Blood in the Cut
by GuiltyCalamity
Summary: Having already faced many challenges in her life, Scarlett Holloway wasn't new to the idea of dread. In a way, she hoped that the difficulties she faced made her stronger, but not strong enough to prepare her for the fall of mankind. Joining together with a group of survivors as the world went to hell was not how she expected to learn about family and love. Follows main story w/OC.
1. Before the Fall

_Hello!_

 _Not much to say considering that this is the first chapter, but I hope this introduction provides you with some insight in terms of my OC's life before the outbreak._

 _I hope you enjoy!_

 _I do not own the Walking Dead, the exception being that of my OC._

* * *

Scarlett had woken up for the first time in a while without a pounding in her skull or a weight in her chest. A wave of dread had not washed over her at the thought of facing another tiring day. Her body wasn't drenched in sweat and shaking, no cry coming from her lips. She had almost wondered if she had woken up in a different body.

It felt odd to her, feeling normal for once.

A yawn tumbled from her lips as she stood up and shuffled towards the door of her room. She strolled down the hallway silently, knowing that her sister wouldn't be up for school until seven. A morning of peace and quiet was needed, a fresh paper lying on the counter downstairs just waiting to be read. Making a quick cup of coffee and washing her hands adequately, she sat down at the kitchen island and began her reading.

A part of her wondered why she even read the paper. It was horror story after horror story, with the occasional trivial achievement that was thrown in the paper in the hopes of not depressing the public. Scarlett couldn't remember the last time the local paper had actually made her smile, let alone feel another emotion besides depressed.

She placed the paper back on the counter and took a sip of her coffee, feeling its warmth seep into her stomach. Her eyes fell on the vase full of Peruvian lilies that sat on the kitchen counter. Its striped pink petals immediately calmed her mind, a mild warm-heartedness spreading through her chest at the sight of the bouquet. Close friends had gifted them to her, knowing that they were her favorite among the flower kingdom.

With a soft exhale, Scarlett stood up and made her way towards the small radio they owned, pressing one of its buttons as music gently filled the room. She figured Victoria would be up soon and decided to get dressed as her feet lead her up the stairs.

Twenty minutes later and dressed in her running wear, Scarlett returned to hear lyrics on the radio:

 _All our times have come_

 _Here but now they're gone_

 _Seasons don't fear the reaper_

 _Nor do the wind, the sun, or the rain, we can be like they are_

 _Come on baby, don't fear the reaper_

 _Baby take my hand, don't fear the reaper_

 _We'll be able to fly, don't fear the reaper_

 _Baby I'm your man._

A soft laugh erupted from her lips and a shake of the head quickly followed as the familiar weight came back to sit on her chest. She turned her attention to the kitchen again and began making breakfast. Pulling the bacon and eggs from the fridge, she grabbed two pans and placed them on the stove. Flicking the burners on, Scarlett got to work.

Two omelets and a plate of bacon later, Scarlett turned to pop the bread into the toaster.

"Wow, you're actually home."

Scarlett almost dropped the knife in her hand at the sudden voice behind her. Turning to see the messy ginger hair and tired eyes of her sister, it shocked Scarlett at how much older her baby sister was beginning to look. It had only been the two of them for a while now, and even though she spent almost every waking minute with her, she was growing up before the elder's eyes.

"Yeah, I have the day off." Scarlett said after a moment, looking back to pull the toast from the toaster.

"The hospital actually gave you a day off?" Victoria asked, still surprised as the smell of food drew her further into the kitchen.

"Believe it or not," Scarlett said with quirk of her eyebrow, pushing the plates closer to her sister as she sat down at the kitchen island. "Eat up or you'll be late."

"I've decided I'm not going today." Victoria stated casually, taking a piece of bacon and placing it in her mouth.

"Oh really."

"Yep."

"How come?"

"You know why."

Scarlett sighed and turned to quickly wash her hands.

"How long has this been going on now?" She asked, watching the water run across her knuckles.

"I don't know but it's getting annoying! He won't leave me alone," Victoria cried, filling her mouth with toast. "He even used the 'I lack Vitamin U' line."

Scarlett turned back to her sister with a look that was somewhere between surprised and repulsed.

"You need to cut that boy off soon."

"Figuratively or literally?"

The elder sister shrugged as the younger let out a soft course of laughter. Scarlett hadn't heard that sound in what seemed like forever, causing her own smile to stretch across her face.

"Just tell him to buzz off. If he tries anything or doesn't listen, I give you permission to punch him."

"Sweet," Victoria laughed before pointing at Scarlett with a piece of bacon in hand. "So how's your nonexistent love life going? I would say better than mine but at least I have one."

Scarlett raised an eyebrow at the jab and sat down across from her sister and snatched the piece of bacon from her fingers.

"If I had feelings, you would have hurt them." Scarlett bit into the piece of meat as her sister laughed.

"I'm serious. Nobody has caught your attention over these past few years?" The younger sister pushed.

"I've been too busy with work and looking after you."

"I'm sixteen! I can look after myself. You need to start going out. I know the anniversary just passed but-"

"Maybe eventually, Tori. But not now." Scarlett said in a much more serious voice than she had expected. She hadn't missed the slight widening of Victoria's eyes at her tone and knew that she had startled her sister as well.

"I'm sorry, my tone was way out of line…"

"It's alright, I understand," her sister said, staring at the older sibling with a worried gaze. "I'm gonna go get dressed and then I'll head to school."

Victoria left without another word and Scarlett watched as her sister climbed the stairs. Once she heard the close of her bedroom door, Scarlett rested her head on top of the kitchen island. She didn't have a right to snap at her baby sister, not like that at least. Not about things she didn't understand or didn't know about. It wasn't her fault that she was young when their mother had passed away. She had gone through a different sort of pain than Scarlett had.

Scarlett had the pleasure of dealing with their father.

She lifted her head up off the table, knowing that stirring in those kind of thoughts would only trigger much worse. A few more bites were taken out of her omelet before tossing it away in the garbage. She gathered the dirty plates and cleaned them, hearing Victoria shout a goodbye as she raced down the stairs and out the front door. Scarlett made a mental note to apologize again to her when she got home from school.

The absence of her sister was only making the weight in her chest worse as she let out a shaky breath. She couldn't stay in the house any longer, knowing that the feeling would only get worse over time. A morning run was exactly what she needed.

Throwing on her shoes and placing her headphones in her ears, Scarlett left the house and began jogging at a steady pace. She watched as parents walked their kids to school, realizing that she probably should have waited an hour or two before leaving the house to avoid the traffic.

Thankfully, the streets eventually cleared and Scarlett ran in peace, passing by multiple neighborhoods and the occasional store. She even ended up running through the local park, much to her surprise; she couldn't even remember how she ended up under the shade of the park's trees.

While the run was supposed to be more of a distraction, all Scarlett could do was think. Think about what work tomorrow would bring, what her conversation with Victoria would be like tonight, and how she was going to move on with her life. She felt like she was in limbo, not living but not dead either. Just there for nothing more but placement.

Sucking in a big breath of air, Scarlett let out a huff of frustration. Maybe she would take up Lori on her offer about dinner together with her family. It would do the two of them some good to be in the company of others.

With that small bubble of drive, she began running once again, not really paying attention to where her feet were taking her. The steady beat of her music and her heart was all that she could hear while she tried to focus on staying calm and collected. The running was helping, that she was sure of, but she didn't know how much longer she could keep going.

As fate had it, Scarlett ended up near one of the town's local burger joints. A cruel bit on reality's part, in her opinion. Carbs sounded amazing right about now.

"Hey! If it isn't our favorite ginger!"

Scarlett knew who the voice belonged to even before she turned to see the police car sitting in the parking lot beside the burger joint. She could pin point that self-righteous tone anywhere.

Exhaling slowly and pulling out her ear buds, Scarlett jogged towards the cop car.

"You know, I'm fine with all the nicknames, I really am, but could you not yell them across the street like a crazy person?" She questioned, peering into the passenger's side window to see both Shane Walsh and Rick Grimes eating French fries out of a paper bag.

"Sorry, Holloway," Shane said, giving her a quick wink. "You not working today?"

"No, I got the day off."

"Really?" Rick asked, leaning over to look at her properly. "Who knew paramedics got days off?"

"I know, I haven't had a day off for months now," Scarlett sighed before looking back at Rick. "How're things with the family?"

The man didn't have to answer her question with words, his expression was enough for her to know that things were definitely _not_ okay.

"Shit, Rick. I'm sorry."

"Lori asked him if he even cared about them right in front of Carl." Shane spoke up, not looking that happy either.

Scarlett let out a sigh. Lori was sweet and caring, but she could be harsh at the most inappropriate times. The woman had showered nothing but kindness and love over the two sisters, but the occasional comment would slip from her lips and totally catch them off guard.

"And you? How're you and Victoria holding up?" Rick asked, breaking the silence and making Scarlett let out a deep sigh.

"We're…holding," she said, looking at both men. "She seems to be holding up fine. If anything, I'm the one that's struggling."

"That's to be expected. You've got a lot on your plate, darlin'." Shane stated, causing her to shrug.

"I suppose you're right."

A beat of silence passed, nothing awkward in the air. A comfort fell over Scarlett whenever she talked with the two men, even if Shane did drive her nuts sometimes. They were like her extended family, always looking out for her and her sister. She owed them a lot, more than what she'll ever be able to repay.

Static over the radio in the car broke the silence and grabbed all of their attention.

" _All available units. High speed pursuit in progress. Linden County East. Request local assistance,"_ a woman's voice could be heard through the static. " _Highway eighteen east bound. GTA ADW 217 243. Advise extreme caution."_

The two men quickly gathered all of their burger scraps and threw them into one of the paper bags.

"You coming, Holloway?" Shane asked, causing Scarlett to gap at him in question.

"You serious?" She asked, looking over at Rick for any kind of consolation.

"We might need a paramedic near by, just to be safe." Rick said, though he didn't look exactly pleased with the idea.

"If you get in trouble for this, I swear…" Scarlett mumbled as she climbed into the back seat of the police car.

Rick hit the gas before she even began reaching for her seat belt as Shane managed to toss out their bag of wrappers and untouched fries into the garbage bin nearby. The car's sirens began without a moment of hesitation as they sped down the King County roads.

Eventually, they were driving down highway eighteen with another police cruiser behind them for backup.

" _Suspects are two Caucasian men. Be advised, they have fired upon police officers. One Linden County officer is wounded."_

The car came to a screeching halt as both Shane and Rick jumped out of the car and ran around back to grab their spike strip.

"It would have been nice to know that they were _shooting_ at the police ten minutes ago…" Scarlett mumbled to herself as she watched the two men set up their trap.

Both men came running back to the car and once seated, Rick switched to reverse and began speeding backwards towards the other police car.

"Just because I'm here doesn't give you an excuse to be reckless, boys!" Scarlett cried as Shane let loose a bark of laughter.

The cruiser came to a stop without any damage being done, much to Scarlett's content. Rick and Shane both exited the car, as did the two other officers, and prepared for what came next. Scarlett stayed in the cruiser.

"Sounds like they're chasing those idiots up and down every back road we've got." One of the officers said as the men loaded their guns.

"Maybe we'll get on one of those video shows, y'know, like world's craziest police chases. Whaddya think?" The other said, giving Rick a sideways glance.

"What I think, Leon, is you need to stay focused. And make sure you've got a round in the chamber and your safety off." Rick replied, watching as the younger man looked at his unloaded gun with its safety on.

In other circumstances, Scarlett would have laughed.

"Would be kinda cool to get on one of them shows." Shane said, receiving a look from Rick and Scarlett let loose a laugh.

Her laugh quickly grabbed the attention of the two other officers, who gave both Shane and Rick pointed looks.

"You brought a girl with you?" One asked.

"Relax. It's Holloway. Figured we could use the help if we need it." Shane said, drawing their attention back to the road in front of them.

Scarlett could hear the fast-approaching sirens from inside the police cruiser and watched as Rick and Shane both tensed up, awaiting the chaos that was coming their way. Over the small hill in the road, a silver mustang appeared, followed by two other police cars. The mustang was driving at a dangerously fast speed and all they could do was watch the front tires run over the spike strip.

The tires immediately blew out, causing the car to turn up on its nose and skid across the highway before finally tipping over. Barrel roll after barrel roll, the silver mustang continued to flip as parts flew off the car with shocking speed before the car eventually came to a horrific stop on its roof.

"Jesus Christ." Scarlett whispered with her eyes wide, watching as smoke rolled off the car.

The pursuing officers got out of their cruisers cautiously, guns all pointed towards the pile of smoking metal. One of the passenger doors was kicked open as a bloodied man crawled out holding a gun, quickly pointing it at the men.

"Gun! Gun!" A cop yelled.

"Put it down!" Rick demanded, only for the man to begin firing in their direction.

Gunshots began firing from every gun in sight, many bullets not finding their target. Scarlett watched in horror as one of the bullets hit Rick in the stomach. Without hesitation, Shane began firing crazily at the suspect, bullets catching the man in three different spots before he finally went down.

As she was about to get out of the car to check on Rick, two more men popped up from behind the car and began firing. One of the bullets lodged into the window shield of the car, causing both Scarlett and Shane to duck for cover. She crawled out of the back seat and crouched beside Shane, who stood back up to continue shooting bullets towards the car.

After a moment of silence, it seemed like the firefight had ceased.

"Rick!" Shane yelled, running towards his best friend and Scarlett followed behind him.

"I'm alright!" He called, still on the ground reloading his gun.

Scarlett quickly approached Rick and crouched down to his level, looking him up and down for any signs of a wound. The man was wheezing heavily but she couldn't see any blood.

"I saw you get tagged, man. That scared the hell out of me." Shane said, his voice ragged with adrenaline.

"Me too," Rick wheezed, slowly getting up to his feet. "That son of a bitch shot me. You believe that?"

"You wearing your vest?" She asked, peering into Rick's face.

"Yeah, thankfully," he said, looking down at the hole in his shirt before giving the other two a look. "You two cannot tell Lori that happened. Ever. You understa-"

A sharp gunshot rang through the air, a yell coming from Rick's mouth as blood flew from his side. He fell to the ground and Scarlett came down with him as Shane began firing shots in the direction of the car. It appeared as though they hadn't killed all of the men.

"Fuck," Scarlett mumbled as she tore away at his shirt and vest, revealing a blood soaked t-shirt underneath. "Shane! He's been hit!"

"No, no, no, no," Shane murmured as he crouched down beside her. "He's hit! Leon! You get that ambulance down here and tell them there's an officer down! You do it now!"

"Shane, apply pressure to the wound. I don't have anything with me right now so we're just going to have to keep him alive until the ambulance gets here," Scarlett said, her brain kicking into overdrive. "Rick, I'm gonna need you to keep looking at Shane or I. I need you to keep your eyes open."

"Did the bullet go through?" Shane asked, his hands quickly staining with blood. Scarlett took off her sweater and handed it to Shane, hoping that it would help slow the blood flowing out of the wound.

"I don't know," She answered, watching as Rick's eyelids began fluttering softly. "Shit. Where is that ambulance?"

Not a moment too soon, it came flying along the highway towards them. Some of the best had come while all the police officers helped place Rick on a gurney. Scarlett grabbed one of the oxygen masks handed to her and quickly placed it over Rick's mouth. Shane, Scarlett, and the rest of the paramedics quickly got into the ambulance and left as soon as they had come.

"I need some dressing and bandages over here!" Scarlett yelled, one of her coworkers hastily passing her a stack of bandages.

"You're not gonna clean it first?" Shane asked, looking up from his wounded best friend at her.

"We need to stop the bleeding, that's what's important," she answered, removing bandages from their packages. "Okay, I'm gonna need you to lift the pressure off his wound on the count of three. One, two, three."

Shane took his palms and her sweater off of Rick's wound, Scarlett not missing the bubble of blood that oozed from the opening before quickly placing the bandages on top. As she would go to open up another bandage, the other paramedic would apply pressure to the wound. Once another bandage was ready, her coworker moved to allow her to place her bandage down and the process continued. Scarlett was trying to ignore the fact that this was a friend that she was trying to save, someone who had helped her in more ways than she could even remember. The fearful looks that Shane kept giving her weren't exactly helping the situation.

Upon arrival to the hospital, the emergency doctors quickly swarmed Rick and rolled him away as Scarlett went along and informed the head doctor of what happened, what the victim's condition was like, and any other important information that was needed. Once all was said, she let the doctors take him away and quickly ran back to speak with Shane.

The next few hours were draining. Shane had filled out a few forms before going to get Lori to tell her about what happened. Scarlett had her own forms to fill out and didn't realize until halfway through her paper work that her hands were still soaked with Rick's blood. A full twenty minutes went into her scrubbing her hands raw before immediately going back to her work. When Shane had returned, he had brought a sobbing Lori with him. The woman pulled Scarlett into her arms and continued to sob, not understanding what she was saying but nonetheless listening.

When Rick's doctor returned, he informed them that Rick had gone into a coma due to blood loss.

It was the final blow to the head for Scarlett, her calm facade slowly slipping into that of sorrow. She watched as Lori broke down and sank to the hospital floor as a distraught Shane attempted to comfort her. None of it seemed real. This was Rick Grimes, sheriff deputy in King County. The man who made an amazing best friend and a loving husband. The man that put his life on the line to make sure justice was served. The man who had helped fix her dishwasher at two in the morning because it would have flooded the kitchen otherwise.

Rick Grimes had practically adopted both Scarlett and her sister. And now she wasn't sure if she would ever get the chance to truly thank him again.

After a while, the doctors let Lori and Shane in to see Rick while Scarlett was urged to go home and rest. As much as she wanted to see Rick, she wasn't sure if it would do her any good to see him in his comatose state. She felt horrid enough as it was. A bloody sweater in hand, Scarlett left the hospital and slowly made her way home. She had roughly an hour before Victoria got home, which gave her enough time to shower and pour herself some whiskey.

She could still feel Rick's blood on her hands and under her nails, leaving her scrubbing at her hands for the majority of the shower. Once the water had turned cold and her hands had become tender, Scarlett gradually got out and dried her aching body. A fresh pair of pajamas could be found in her drawer and she slipped them on gingerly.

Finally back downstairs, Scarlett immediately went to the liquor cabinet and grabbed the new bottle of Jack Daniel's. A fresh glass and ice were acquired soon after, pouring the golden liquid out of the bottle. She brought the glass to her lips and felt the whiskey wash down her throat with a burning sensation that made her grimace. The first sip was always the worst anyways.

Scarlett heard the lock of the front door click and open, seeing her sister walk down the hall out of the corner of her eye. The older sister tried her best to look busy gazing down at the few bills that needed to be paid. She was almost positive that it made her look even more out of place.

"Rough day off?" She heard Victoria ask as the younger sister came to sit down across from her.

"That obvious?" Scarlett questioned, looking down at her drink.

"You nursing a whiskey kind of gave it away." Victoria stated as Scarlett brought the glass to her lips.

"I don't like the fact that you know how to use that term," she said and the younger scoffed before silence fell between them. Scarlett figured she owed it to her sister to tell her what was going on, even if she didn't like it. "I saw Rick Grimes get shot today."

"Are you serious?" Victoria asked, eyes wide with shock. "Is he okay?"

"He's in a coma."

Another beat of silence. It was obvious that Victoria felt the same way as Scarlett when it came to seeing the Grimes' as family. They might not live under the same roof as them, but knowing they would be there for two girls and vice versa was a part of the reason why Scarlett slept at night. Victoria had even babysat Carl when the couple needed a night out.

"And I thought I had a bad day." Victoria finally mumbled, staring at the counter top of the kitchen island.

"What happened?"

"Told the creep to buzz off but he just wasn't listening. Ended up punching him in-between the eyes," she explained, placing her bruised knuckles out onto the table. "I've got detention for a week."

Scarlett let out a large sigh as she stared at her sister's injured hand.

"Did he at least cry?"

"Like a baby."

A smile split across Scarlett's face for a brief moment, only for it to disappear as she stood up from her seat to fetch the first aid kit. Once in hand, she sat beside her sister and ushered the younger to give her the injured hand. While she knew it would hurt for now with the stinging of the alcohol and the irritation of the bandages, the pain would eventually subside into a slight ache, followed by soreness until it was fully healed.

As did most things in life, it would take time to heal the wound. It made Scarlett wondered why she was still licking at some of hers.

* * *

 _First Chapter Complete!  
_

 _I'm excited to continue expanding with the story, so please anticipate future chapters and leave a review! Feedback is always welcome._

 _Also, for those of you that have read my HP fic, you've probably noticed that my OC in this story shares the same name as my HP OC's cat. I would have changed it, but I got so attached to this character, especially for her name. Plus, I wasn't even sure I'd ever post this and now I've grown too fond of it to change her name. I hope you understand!_

 _**The title of this story came from the song 'Blood in the Cut' by , though it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the contents of this fic lol**_

 _Will update as soon as I can,_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


	2. Sickness

_Hello again!_

 _When it comes to posting new fics, I like to upload the first few chapters to give people a better sense of where the story is going, hence why this chapter is going up so soon lol._

 _A quick thank you to Georgetteb321, ashbandicoot, daryldixonlover18, dollinchains, and Thetroublewithexes for favouriting/following the story. I'm glad the first chapter has sparked your interests, so thank you for the support!_

 _Anyways, things get a bit more interesting in this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy!_

 _I do not own the Walking Dead, only my OC._

* * *

 _One month later_

It was her second 36-hour shift of the week. Every muscle ached something fierce and it felt like her bones were made of metal. It had been a long, tedious night at the local hospital; it seemed like a handful of people had come down with the flu. At least two dozen people had come in with fevers, pale skin, dizziness, and the chills. A few had begun throwing up or fainting, and it seemed that all of them were suffering from dehydration as well.

Scarlett was slumped over in a chair near the main desk, watching as nurses and doctors scattered about like chicken with their heads cut off. They were trying to keep their composure, she could tell, but they were definitely not fooling anyone.

With her notepad in hand, she glanced down at her handwriting. A list of symptoms remained on the paper but it only made Scarlett narrow her eyes in perplexity. The symptoms clearly pointed to some sort of infection, but the hospital's treatments had yet to show any results of improvement.

"Well, you look like the embodiment of health, Holloway."

She continued to look down at her notes, not needing to glance up to see who had spoken. Her patience was running thin and her bloodshot eyes continued to burn, but she couldn't help but talk back to the policeman.

"Kind of busy right now. Come back when I'm not drowning in flu patients or having a mental breakdown." Scarlett replied, making Shane let out a short laugh.

"I'm here to see Rick, you wanna come with?" He asked, his tone more serious now. "You look like you could use a break."

She finally glanced up and looked at Shane, spotting the vase of flowers tucked under his arm. The man looked tired as well, the job as well as his comatose best friend most likely weighing heavy on his mind.

"Yeah, I'll come." She sighed, tucking her notepad into the front pocket of her pants.

The two of them made their way to the fourth floor, much to the discontent of Scarlett's aching body. She was a bit nervous about seeing Rick. She'd only seen him once back when he'd first gone into the coma. While she liked to think she didn't have the time to visit him, she knew deep down that it was because she was scared.

"How's Victoria doing?" Shane asked as they walked down the busy hall of the fourth floor.

"I wouldn't know. She's been on a field trip for the past week." Scarlett answered, sidestepping out of the way of a jogging nurse.

"Yeah? Where's the field trip?"

"She told me they were going to visit a few older towns to learn about the history of Georgia." Scarlett explained vaguely, obviously having no clue when it came to the school's outing. This made Shane laugh softly once again.

After what seemed like forever, the two adults found themselves standing in front of room 450. Shane had grown quiet as his mouth formed into a stern line while Scarlett furrowed her eyebrows with worry and concern about what she was about to see. With a quick breath in, she opened the door and they stepped into the room.

The room looked like all the others; plain white walls, dull sunlight flooding into the room, the steady beep of Rick's heartbeat on the monitor, and of course, the patient himself.

Shane approached Rick carefully as Scarlett shut the door behind her.

"Hey bud," Shane began, looking down at his pale best friend. "You're still here. We're still hanging in."

Scarlett slowly approached the bed where Rick resided, watching as Shane continued to watch his friend with worried eyes. She heard people running down the hall outside of the room, but she assumed it was another wave of people infected with the flu.

"I'm sorry, man. I know it's the same crap every time I come in here," he began again, standing back up straight and letting out a huff. "Everybody pitched in on these. They wanted me to bring them down and they send their love. They just…they hope you come back real soon."

Resting her hands on the side of the bed, Scarlett could see the soft breaths leaving Rick's mouth. They were shaky and shallow, but before she could get emotional about it, a quick chuckle came from Shane.

"Linda and Diane from dispatch picked these out. Probably could tell, huh? I'm just gonna set these on your side table, 'kay?" Shane said, placing the flowers beside Rick's bed. "Oh, and I brought Holloway with me. Things have been crazy here at the hospital, you wouldn't believe it."

Scarlett simply smiled down at Rick and placed her hand on his. She thought she heard a helicopter flying overhead, which was odd, but she chose to ignore it.

"Hey Rick," she began, her voice calm. "Victoria and I miss you tons. Things aren't the same without you around. Who else is supposed to keep Shane in line? You know he doesn't listen to me."

Another scoff left Shane's lips as Scarlett shot him a smile before continuing on with her words.

"I hope you come out of this soon. We still need to have that dinner together, you know? You, Lori, Carl, Shane, Tori and I. A little family get together would do wonders for everyone right about now."

Scarlett hadn't even noticed that the word 'family' had slipped from her lips until it was already said. She didn't regret it, nor did she think that Shane would bother her about it. It simply made her more sad to think about because there was, after all, what felt like a huge hole in their little family. It felt wrong not having him around.

Before either of them could say another word, yelling had begun on the other side of their door. It sounded from down the hall at first before Scarlett heard the sound of feet running followed by more yelling from multiple voices.

"What in the hell?"

The two of them ran to the door and threw it open, revealing nurses and staff running down the hallway. That didn't surprise or worry Scarlett, but what worried her was that there were soldiers in the halls as well. With guns pressed to their fronts, she knew they were planning on using them. She saw a familiar face in the crowd and shouted out.

"Karen! What's going on?" Scarlett yelled, only to be ignored.

"It looks like everyone's being evacuated." Shane mumbled as they left the room.

A gunshot rang from down the hallway as the two of them ran towards the sound. A gurney sat at the end and both adults seemed to have the same idea, though Scarlett wasn't pleased.

Once they reached the gurney, Scarlett and Shane looked down the other hallway to see soldiers lining up patients before letting their guns go off and essentially filling them all with bullets. Blood splattered up the white walls as Scarlett froze with horror and watched as one soldier began firing shots into the already deceased's heads.

The door at the end of that hallway opened up and more patients came through, though they didn't exactly look normal. One of them grabbed a soldier, which caused him to fire up into the ceiling as he struggled to get away. More patients began to attack them and bite at their combat gear.

"Scarlett, we need to get back now!" Shane yelled as he pulled both her and the gurney along with him.

Coming back to her senses for a moment, Scarlett helped Shane push the gurney back to Rick's room before throwing the door open and making their away over to their comatose friend.

"We need to get him out of here." Shane stated, placing his arms under Rick's legs and back as he began to lift him.

"No! Shane we can't, he'll die if we take out his IV," Scarlett panicked urging him to place Rick back down. "Moving him out of the room alone would probably kill him."

More gunfire could be heard outside the hospital as well as in the hallways. The shouting continued, some out of agony and some giving out orders. Scarlett ran over to Shane's side near Rick's monitor and pulled the man down behind the bed.

"What the-" Shane began, only for Scarlett to cover his mouth.

The sound of a soldier bursting into the room reached their ears as the man began looking around the room for anything moving. After a few seconds of scouting, the soldier left the room and hurried down the hall.

The both of them sat up from their hiding spot before Shane turned his attention to Rick once again.

"Listen to me, if you're gonna wake up I need you to do it now," Shane forcefully spoke to Rick, the desperation in his eyes evident. "Now. Please man, you need to show me a sign. Anything. Please Rick-"

A sound as though a bomb had been dropped on top of the hospital rang throughout the room, all the power going out as Shane threw a protective arm over Scarlett as a few tiles came down from the ceiling and the ground shook beneath them. The sound of the monitor turning off had Scarlett jumping up to check on the machine, only for black to be on the screen.

"No, no, no." Scarlett mumbled, panic running through her as she fiddled with the machine. She turned all the right nobs and pressed all the right buttons, but the monitor refused to turn back on.

Shane got up and pressed an ear to Rick's chest. After a quiet moment, Scarlett watched Shane's face pause with dread and his eyes fill with fear. He pressed his face into his best friend's hospital gown as Scarlett's eyes filled with tears. Shane stood up and looked down at her, his eyes watering as well with his face all scrunch up in emotional distress.

"I'm sorry." Shane mouthed to Rick's lifeless body, pressing his hand over his best friend's face. Scarlett watched quietly, tears running down her face as she stared at something that wasn't there.

"Okay, okay," Shane mumbled to himself. "Scarlett, we gotta go."

Scarlett looked up at Shane, eyes wide with fear and hopelessness. She knew he was right, it was the rational thing to do, but her body wouldn't move. She felt like she couldn't breathe, listening to the gunshots and the screams as her eyes shifted back to Rick. A quick sob left her mouth before she mustered the will to stand up and follow Shane to the door.

He pulled out his gun and looked down the mostly deserted hallway. Scarlett peaked out from behind him to see more soldiers shooting down people at the far end of the other hallway. Behind them, Scarlett heard moans and turned to see some of the patients slowly shuffling down the hall towards them. They looked sickly and were covered in blood, the stench filling both her and Shane's nostrils. It smelled like a rotting corpse and Scarlett came to the conclusion that it was the patients.

"We should close the door." Scarlett mumbled as Shane spotted the patients coming towards them.

The man nodded and quickly closed the door. Scarlett shoved the gurney from earlier in front of Rick's room as well, even if the man's heart had stopped beating.

"Come on, we gotta go!" Shane yelled at her and the two of them ran in the opposite direction of the patients.

"We should go out the back." Scarlett stated, turning and running down one of the staircases with Shane right on her heels.

Once they had reached the back exit, the two of them burst through to see nothing but chaos outside. Multiple helicopters had landed and military were everywhere, some shooting at civilians while others were being attacked by the same sickly-looking people as the patients inside the hospital. An explosion rang out from their left as they watched one of the airborne helicopters fly into one of the buildings. The screams and blood seemed endless as Shane tugged on Scarlett's arm and the two began running once again.

Managing to make it passed the military and back into the streets, the anarchy continued as people fled from their homes and packed their cars. The gunfire was still ringing loud and clear through the air around them, though Scarlett couldn't focus on who or what was being shot at. She had spotted a little girl sitting on the side of the road wailing in pain as her mother wrapped bandages around her wounded leg. The wound was bleeding a lot and it almost appeared as if a chunk had been taken out of her leg.

"I'm gonna go grab Lori and Carl and bring them back to your place. I'll meet you there in ten," Shane said as they continued to run through the distraught neighbourhoods. "You still got Stella by your front door?"

"Yeah, I do." Scarlett answered, her breathing a bit strained.

"Okay good. Lock all doors and only open them if you hear four quick knocks on the front door, then you'll know it's me," Shane stated and Scarlett nodded. "Stay safe."

"You too."

Shane split off from her side and turned down one of the streets that lead away from Scarlett's own home. She didn't like the idea of being left alone, not one bit. Her stomach was turning and her eyes were wide with fear as she continued sprinting down the streets. Spotting a man pointing a gun at an older woman, Scarlett watched as the man riddled her body with bullets, only for her to keep moving towards him despite all the blood that was pouring from the wounds in her stomach. The older lady grabbed ahold of the man and bit into his shoulder, blood spraying everywhere as he fell to the ground. The lady remained on top of him, appearing to be eating away at his flesh. Scarlett picked up her pace as she barely held in the bile rising in her throat.

About another minute of running and she had finally reached her house. Grabbing the key from her pocket as she sprinted up the steps to the front porch, Scarlett stuck the key into the lock and turned it sharply, quickly throwing open the door and slamming it behind her. Hurriedly locking the front door, Scarlett ran to the back door and flicked the lock there as well. She began running around the house, locking the windows and drawing the blinds on every single window in the entire home. When she had come sprinting back down the stairs, Scarlett spotted her most prized metal bat by the front door. While she hated the thought, it appeared as thought Scarlett would be getting use out of Stella.

Four sharp knocks pounded on her front door and Scarlett grabbed the bat, thinking the worst. While that had been Shane's signal that it was him, she realized that anyone could have randomly knocked on her front door four times. Taking a quick breath in Scarlett unlocked the door and threw it open with her bat held high, only to see the scared faces of Lori, Carl, and Shane.

"Get inside, quickly." Scarlett said, her voice just barely shaking as the three of them rushed into her home.

Once they were inside, Scarlett closed the door and locked it once more. She watched as Lori took Carl to the couch in order to try and calm the crying boy down. Shane turned his attention to Scarlett after looking around the house to make sure that everything was locked.

"I have some spare planks of wood downstairs," Scarlett said after a moment of silence. "I think we should use them to board up the front and back windows."

Shane nodded, obviously still trying to catch his breath. By the wide frightened look in his eyes, she knew that they had seen some bad things going on out there. Maybe even worse than what she had seen herself.

Scarlett led him downstairs and turned on the single light bulb that remained down there. The planks were stacked in the corner of the basement and the two of them quickly began grabbing them and bringing them upstairs.

Once a pile had been made at the top of the stairs, Shane brought some into the living room while Scarlett looked for her hammer and pack of nails. Finding them in the far left drawer in her kitchen, she ran back to where Shane was. They immediately began putting the boards up over the windows, each individual window getting four planks hammered in over them. Scarlett was surprised at how fast they had managed to get them done, and the back windows took even less time than the front ones. However, she didn't like the fact that there were spaces in between the boards.

"People can still see in here." Shane said, as if he were reading her mind.

"I have some dark bed sheets that we hang up," Scarlett suggested, looking over at him. "It'll block the view into the house."

"Let's do it." He breathed as Scarlett ran upstairs in search of the dark material.

Roughly a few minutes later and the two of them had covered up each window with the dark cotton sheets. It was difficult, but Lori had eventually come and began helping them hammer the sheets to the wood. The crashes and gunshots still rang from outside, but no one dared look. It had begun to darken outside as the horrific screams still echoed throughout the small town, making everyone jump with each cry.

Unable to sit still and continue listening to the anarchy outside, Scarlett made her way over to the radio. She had never been more thankful that she had a satellite radio, quickly flipping the device on. Static was all she could hear for a while, no matter how many times she adjusted the antenna in search of some sort of transmission. About to give up and head back to her spot near the window, the sound of an automated voice broke through the static and filled the quiet room.

"… _government officials are advising citizens to head to Atlanta where the military is providing shelter and protection until the pandemic is dealt with. Avoid all contact with the infected populous…"_

The static roared once again, completely decimating the broadcast and making Scarlett smack the side of the radio out of irritation.

"Stupid thing." She mumbled, deciding to just turn it off.

The house filled with silence again as Scarlett moved back to her chair near the boarded up windows. She knew that both Shane and Lori had heard the short clip of the transmission and were quietly taking in the information. A dreadful feeling had crept up in her chest because she knew that they would want to go to Atlanta. The problem was that she wouldn't be able to go with them.

"I say we pack up what we can manage to carry in the morning and make our way to the city." Shane stated calmly as he looked over at Lori.

"We could take the car. All four of us could fit." She specified but all Scarlett could do was shake her head.

"I can't come with you guys." The red head mumbled, staring at the lantern that sat in the middle of the room. There was a pause and Scarlett could feel all eyes on her but she couldn't bring herself to meet anyone's gaze.

"Why the hell not?" Shane demanded from the doorway where he stood.

"You know why." She answered, furrowing her eyebrows.

"I clearly don't, so feel free to enlighten me-"

"Shane, quiet down." Lori interrupted him as multiple bangs could be heard from outside the house. Getting up from her chair and going over to the window, Scarlett moved one of the sheets out of her way in order to look outside to see people breaking into the house across the road.

"Turn off the lantern." Scarlett insisted as she stuffed the crack full of the black fabric once again and Lori quickly blew out the candle within the lantern.

A few moments passed as the group of them sat in silence listening to the crashes and bangs coming from the neighboring house. Screams soon followed and the sound of a gun firing echoed through the previously quiet street. Carl began crying once again and Lori grabbed a hold of him, her own eyes were watering. Shane's gaze was fixed on the boarded up windows as Scarlett grabbed her bat and held it close to her chest.

"My sister is still out there, Shane," Scarlett began explaining as she sat down with her back pressed against the wall. "I need to stay here and wait for her. She'll most likely make her way back here."

"That's _if_ she even makes it that far," Shane said, only to receive a hard glare from the red head that made him immediately regret his choice of words. "Holloway, she'll probably end up going to the city too! There's no point in waiting for her on the slight chance that she might come back here at all."

"I can't risk it, I can't," Scarlett attempted to justify the motive behind her actions. "If she comes here to an abandoned house, she would have come this far for nothing! I need to stay, I'm sorry."

"Scarlett, please." Lori mumbled, finally tuning in to the conversation.

"Look," Scarlett began, letting out a big breath of air. "If she isn't here in two weeks, I'll come join you in Atlanta. I promise."

Both Shane and Lori were looking at her with pleading expressions, realizing that there was nothing they could say to change her mind.

"I'll be okay. The window's are all boarded up, I've got shelter and food," she explained to them. "Plus, I've got Stella if I need her. I can fend for myself."

Even as she said the last line, her confidence seemed to weaver. Scarlett just hoped that they had failed to notice it.

Shane's stern and dread-ridden eyes were still staring at her harshly but she managed to hold her ground under his gaze. With an angry huff of air, he reached into his belt and pulled out his gun. While fear had shot through Scarlett's body, it fell away when Shane held the weapon out to her.

"If you're not coming with us, at least take this," Shane demanded. "Please."

She met his determined eyes and slowly reached out to grab the gun. It was cold to the touch and weighed a decent amount in her hands.

"You remember how to shoot it?" He asked her as flash backs from both Shane and Rick teaching her how to fire a gun a few years ago.

"Yeah." She muttered, staring down at the gun before meeting his eyes again.

"Good," Shane said, his gaze staying on her form for a moment before turning away. "We should all get some rest. The three of us will leave as soon as the sun rises in the morning."

While everyone else made their bed out of the sheets she had brought down from the second floor, Scarlett remained seated on the floor with Stella on her lap and the gun in her hand. Her gut was telling her that what she was doing was the right thing, but her chest felt as though bricks had been dropped on top of her. She wasn't looking forward to the isolation. She just prayed that her sister would come back in one piece and as soon as possible.

* * *

 _Second chapter complete!_

 _I hope this chapter turned out alright. I've been writing like crazy these past few days so feel free to let me know if it was up to par or not :)_

 _The storyline picks up in the next chapter, I can't wait to share it with you guys._

 _Will update as soon as I can,_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


	3. A Familiar Face

_Ah hello!_

 _I don't even know why I'm posting another chapter so soon but whatever, here you are! It's a bit longer than the previous chapters lol. I'm also half asleep so I apologize if there are a few grammatical errors._

 _I do not own the Walking Dead, only my OC._

* * *

 _Three weeks later_

It was everywhere. On her face, in her hair, in her mouth, on her clothes, on her bat, on the floor; there wasn't a surface on her body that wasn't untouched. A simple run in the early morning to the corner store across town had gone the absolute worst it could have possibly gone. Well, she wasn't dead, so maybe not the absolute worst.

There had been so many, the most she had ever seen. A whole wave of them had come around the corner and had taken her by surprise. Luckily, the infected could only jog, while she had the privilege of being able to run. She had lost them a few blocks away and had made it back to her home in one piece. Of course, that didn't come without bashing a few heads in and almost getting bitten. While she might have been covered in blood, she was beyond thankful that she had decided to put in her own propane system into the house. It had been extremely expensive, but well worth it. Meaning that she could still have a shower even with the gas lines around town being down.

When she finally got into the shower to wash off all the blood, Scarlett came to the conclusion that she had left too early in the morning. From what she had observed over the past few weeks, she came to understand that the infected were more active at night. She had also learned within the first few days of being at the house alone that she couldn't kill any of the infected unless she aimed for the head. At the thought of their biting teeth and yellowish eyes, Scarlett quickly checked her body for any signs of scratches or bites. When she came up with nothing, she got out of the shower and dried herself off.

Going into her bedroom, Scarlett threw on a black tank top and a dark green button up with some jeans. She stared at her open drawer and paused as the reality hit her like a train.

Her sister wouldn't be coming back here.

Scarlett had already stayed an extra week longer in the hopes that she'd see a sign of Victoria. Occasionally, the image of her sister appearing at their front door would interrupt the elder's endless nightmares with a false happiness until she woke up to yet another nightmare. Playing the waiting game had destroyed Scarlett internally, always keeping her hopes up that maybe, just maybe, today would be the day that Victoria would knock at her door.

Tears filled her eyes and Scarlett allowed them to fall freely, knowing that she needed to get out of the godforsaken place that she called home. It had poisoned her mental health enough over the years and she needed to move on. Grabbing a pack, she threw in a change of clothes and grabbed one of the framed pictures of the sisters off the wall, tearing the actual image out of the frame and placing it in her pocket. Looking through the rest of the house, Scarlett managed to grab what little food she had left, along with a pack of batteries, a flashlight, a lighter, a Swiss army knife, a large knife, her first aid kit, a map, a portable water filter, two water bottles, a deck of cards, and her notepad with all her notes. She strapped the gun Shane had given her to her waist and threw Stella over her shoulder, knowing that she should probably leave sooner or later to get the most sunlight as possible during her travels.

As she was about to turn the lock on the door, a thought made itself known in her head. Scarlett dropped her gear and walked back into the living room in search of a piece of paper, finding a few meaningless bills piled off to the side. Quickly grabbing one along with a pen, she scribbled down a few words before throwing the pen in her sack and placing the note on the kitchen counter.

 _Tori,_

 _Heading to Atlanta, hopefully I'll see you there._

 _Love,_

 _Scarlett_

While rather simple, Scarlett couldn't bring herself to write anything more. Grabbing her pack once again and taking her bat within her grip, she opened the door and left the house for the last time. Regardless, she still locked the door before heading down the street.

A few swings of Stella and multiple dead infected later, Scarlett somehow ended up in the neighbourhood of the Grimes residence. A sadness washed over her and began eating her from the inside out as her eyes began to water once again. The isolation was truly getting to her now. While it was one thing to stay inside away from the world alone, it was another to come outside and still be alone. The feeling was horrid, one of the worst she'd ever felt. She let the end of her bat make contact with the road as she felt her body begin to shake. Scarlett felt the need to wash her hands and she considered going back to the house, but she saw something that made her stop.

Someone was sitting out front of the Grimes house dressed in white. It was hard to make out if it was one of the infected or someone healthy. While the person didn't look exactly healthy, the curiosity got the better of her as she slowly but carefully walked down the street in the hopes of getting a better look.

When she finally realized who it was, Scarlett felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. However, it couldn't be who she thought it was, no matter how much she wanted to believe it was him. In her moment of disbelief, she failed to see a small form approaching the man from behind. Before she could get a word out of her mouth, a shovel was swung at the man's face and he was knocked back against the ground.

"Daddy! Daddy!" The kid holding the shovel yelled "Daddy, I got this som' bitch! Imma smack him dead!"

Scarlett's eyes traveled over in the direction in which the kid was yelling to see a much older man approach a nearby walker and shoot a bullet into its head. Without even thinking, Scarlett jogged over to where the kid was in the hopes of getting a look at the man that had been hit with the shovel. When she heard the chamber of a gun being reloaded, she froze in her stride and turned to see the older man pointing his smoking gun in her direction.

"Who the hell are you?" The man demanded, but Scarlett's gaze landed back on the fallen man and getting a good look at his face. It really was him.

"I'm a friend of the man your son just knocked out." Scarlett explained calmly, holding up her hands with her bat still in her fist.

"Carl…Carl, I found you." Her friend mumbled to the son, who looked even more distraught than before.

"Did he just say something to you?" The father rushed over to his son, his gun still pointed at Scarlett.

"He called me Carl."

"Son, you know they don't talk," the man said as he looked down at Scarlett's fallen friend. "Hey mister. What's the bandage for?"

"He got shot." Scarlett answered as the man pointed his gun back at her.

"I wasn't asking you."

"Well the man just got hit over the fucking head so I doubt he'll be able to answer any questions," she spit without realizing her anger. "I'm a friend of his. If you let me, I'll take him into the house and show you the wound."

The man stared at her for a long second before turning his attention back to Rick and pointing the gun at his face.

"Answer me or I will shoot you."

Scarlett watched as Rick looked down the barrel of the gun only for his eyes to cross and close as his head fell back against the pavement.

"Please, let me show you he's fine," Scarlett begged, placing her bat on the ground along with her gun. "I need to change his bandages. Please, please give me a chance."

Pointing the gun back at her, the man gave her a cold look. Scarlett couldn't read him all that well, so any chance of her being able to tell if the conversation was working in her favour was a lost cause. A sharp exhale left the man's mouth before he looked at his son.

"Grab the bat and the gun from her. Knock her out if she tries anything," he said as the younger boy came forward and took her things. "You, mam', are gonna help me carry him to our shelter a few houses down, okay?"

Scarlett nodded profusely, slowly making her way up onto the lawn and grabbing a hold of Rick's feet while the man grabbed his shoulders.

"One, two, three."

Carrying Rick a few doors over wasn't that difficult, but it was a matter of getting him up the stairs that the task became challenging. Without managing to drop him, the three of them brought him into one of the bedrooms and placed him on the bed. The young boy continued to point Scarlett's gun at her while the father returned with rope and began tying up Rick by each limb. She knew it wasn't necessary, but she kept her mouth shut.

"Alright, you get to cleaning his wound," the man said once he had finished his work. "We'll be here watching."

"My first aid kit is in my bag, may I grab it?" Scarlett asked carefully, pointing to the pack on her back. The man gave her an odd look.

"Yeah, sure."

Scarlett nodded, setting her pack on the floor before slowly unzipping it and pulling out what she needed. Once in her hands, she slowly moved over to Rick's side and placed the first aid kit on the side table.

"Could you grab me a bowl of warm water and a cloth, please?" She asked, opening up the kit to look at its contents.

She heard the son place her bat on the floor before leaving the room, the sound of water running reaching her tired ears. Grabbing the rubbing alcohol, she unwrapped a few bandages just in time for the young boy to return with the water and cloth she had asked for.

"Thank you." Scarlett smiled at the son before turning back to Rick.

Rinsing her hands quickly in the bowl before slowly taking off Rick's bandages, she was glad that she would be changing the bandage. The entire thing was covered in new and old blood, meaning the bacteria levels were most likely high over the wound.

"I'm going to clean it with some water first, that way you can see the wound without all the dried blood in the way." Scarlett explained as she reached for the cloth and dipped it into the lukewarm water.

The father and son remained quiet as she cleaned away at her friend's wound. It wasn't looking as horrible as she had imagined it to, images still flashing in her brain of all the blood there had been there when he had first gotten shot. It almost seemed like a lifetime ago now.

"Here, come take a look," Scarlett said after a few minutes and the man slowly approached her. "The overall wound is circular, while if it were a bite or scratch is would be more jagged. Plus, you would see the nail or teeth marks in the flesh around it. Those characteristics are absent in this wound."

The man continued to be quiet as he looked down at the injury, analyzing every gruesome detail just to be careful.

"You said you were a friend," the man began. "How'd he get shot?"

"I'd tell you, but you're going to ask him the same question when he wakes up anyways," Scarlett said, the corner of her mouth turning up at the man. "Can I redress his wound now?"

The man stared at her quizzically for a moment before nodding his head at her request. Quickly getting to work, Scarlett soaked the first bandage in alcohol and placed it on the injury, followed by another layer of wrappings just to be safe. This was Rick she was dealing with and she wouldn't be losing him again.

"What's your name?" The man asked as she took the cloth and wiped away at the blood on Rick's nose.

"Scarlett," she answered simply. "Yourself?"

"Morgan," he replied before nodding a head at the younger boy. "This's my son, Dwayne."

"Nice to meet the both of you," Scarlett said, finally looking up at the father and son. "This is the first sort of human contact I've had for weeks."

"You're on your own?"

"Yeah, was my choice," she explained, looking down at her hands. "It was the wrong one."

"Well, you found your friend, right?" Dwayne said suddenly, causing Scarlett's gaze to shift to the young boy.

"I suppose you're right." She smiled at him and he returned it shyly.

Scarlett's tired eyes shifted back to Rick's unconscious form and looked down at his pale face. A part of her believed everything to be a dream, knowing that good things didn't come without the bad. This equalizing bad might have already happened as she recalled her horrible run to the corner store earlier in the day. She quickly shook the feeling away, happy that she was seeing the soft rise and fall of Rick's chest that had been supposedly absent a month ago.

A part of her family had been restored, and Scarlett decided not to question it any further.

"We should make sure we have the place locked down before the night comes," Morgan spoke up and she turned her attention back to the man. "You stay here with him, just incase he wakes up."

"Are you sure? I can help with things if you need the extra hand." Scarlett questioned.

"That's alright," Morgan said as he urged his son to follow him to the door of the bedroom. "I'll close the door behind us. We can hear everything in this house, just so you know."

Scarlett raised her eyebrows at the second-hand threat but was also grateful that he was confident enough in her to leave her alone without supervision.

"You know I'm not stupid enough to try anything, right?" She asked as the corner of her lips twitched upwards.

"I would hope not." Morgan answered, his face lacking humour, though Scarlett swore she saw a soft twinkle in the older man's eyes as he closed the door behind him and his son.

While they had taken her gun, they had left her Stella. Placing the bloody cloth on the dresser to her right, Scarlett slowly walked over and grabbed ahold of the bat. The blood on the end of her bat had begun crusting over the metal surface and Scarlett decided that she would deal with the mess later. She had noticed the blood on her own hands as well and quickly made her way over to the water bowl, where she rubbed her hands free of the red substance. Afterwards, she wandered over to the chair in the corner of the room and sat down, leaning Stella against the arm of the chair. She listened to the sounds of Morgan and Dwayne downstairs while her eyes remained on Rick. As she felt her thoughts shifting to that of the fate of her sister, her eyelids grew heavy and her muscles relaxed as sleep washed over her tired body.

Scarlett had woken up to the sound of the bedroom door opening, unaware of how long she had slept or where she was. Morgan's familiar face along with his son's had calmed the panic that had risen in her chest. The room was dark and the only source of light was coming from the lantern in Morgan's hand. The father and son quietly walked into the room, lighting tea lights and placed them around the bedroom.

"You've been out for hours," Morgan commented as he placed a light beside Rick's bed. "Came to check on you a half hour after you'd gotten here and you were fast asleep."

"I guess I needed the rest." Scarlett mumbled, her voice a bit hoarse as she sat further in her chair.

Morgan had moved over to the bowl of dirty water and grabbed the blood-soaked rag; dropping the cloth into the water before letting out a huff of air.

"We cooked up a can of food," he began, his eyes still looking into the contents of the bloody bowl. "You may eat with us if you like."

A bit surprised by his offer, Scarlett attempted to find the right words to say. Once they were in her mouth and ready to be said, her eyes shifted over to Dwayne. He was holding his own wooden bat and staring down at Rick's body, his body language much too tense for idol chitchat.

Scarlett followed his gaze as her eyes fell on Rick's face; his blue eyes glassy as they looked around the room before they finally met hers.

"Scarlett?"

Her face split into a wide grin as her eyes began to water, seeing him alive and breathing hitting her hard. She couldn't bring herself to say anything in response, afraid that her voice would weaver and lead her to break down crying.

"She got that bandage changed now. It was pretty rank," Morgan said, turning his attention to Rick, who returned his gaze. "What was it? The wound."

Scarlett remained quiet, knowing that she would have to let Rick answer Morgan's questions if he wanted to get out of those restraints.

"Gunshot." Rick answered slowly, his voice rough as he looked at the ropes that kept him tied to the bed.

"Gunshot? What else? Anything?"

"Gunshot ain't enough?"

While Scarlett knew where Rick was coming from, she also knew that a gunshot was nowhere near bad enough as getting attacked by walkers. She watched as Morgan walked over to Rick's bedside, his pointed gaze sharp.

"Look, I ask and you answer. It's common courtesy right?" he said to Rick before bringing his face closer to her friend's. "Did you get bit?"

Seeing as though she hadn't seen any bites on his body, Scarlett had a feeling he was bite free. However, you could never be too careful in asking the question anyways.

"Bit?" Rick asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Bit, chewed, maybe scratched. Anything like that? "Morgan pushed.

"No, I got shot," Rick said as his eyes quickly flicked over in Scarlett's direction. "Just shot as far as I know."

Morgan stared down at him for a long moment before slowly reaching up to place his hand on Rick's forehead, only for the man to sink further back into the pillow.

"Rick, it's okay," Scarlett spoke up as he looked over at her once again. "He just wants to check for a fever."

The sheriff shifted his eyes between Scarlett and Morgan in uncertainty, but ultimately let Morgan place his hand on his forehead. After feeling his temperature with the palm and back of his hand, he turned his attention to both Dwayne and her.

"Feels cool enough," he said as he slowly peeled his hand back from Rick's forehead. "The fever would have killed you by now."

"I don't think I have one." Rick stated as Scarlett walked over to the end of his bed, Morgan watching her carefully out of the corner of his eye.

"It would be hard to miss," she said as she looked at both men, remembering the symptoms back at the hospital. "The body heats up like a furnace, like you're cooking from the inside out. He's fine, Morgan, and a good man too. He won't do anything stupid."

Morgan looked in her direction before letting out a sigh, turning his attention back to Rick as he bent closer to him, pulling out a switch blade from his pocket.

"Take a moment. Look at how sharp it is," he said to Rick, the blade only inches from his face. "You try anything, I will kill you with it and don't you think I won't."

While Scarlett frowned at the threat, she watched as Morgan slowly began cutting Rick free of his restraints. First the hands, and then the feet, Rick rubbed at the rope burn around his wrists before looking at Morgan.

"Come on out when you're able," Morgan said to him as he walked to the door with Dwayne at his side. "Come on."

Once the father and son had left the room, Scarlett had gone over to Rick's side to look at his face. While he still rubbed at his wrists, he gave her a weak smile.

"It's nice to see a familiar face." Rick mumbled and she let out a quick laugh as her eyes had begun watering once again.

"Same here," Scarlett said as she placed a hand on his head. "We thought you were done for. Like Morgan said, I did change your bandage. It looks a lot better than I thought it would."

"Thank you Scarlett." He said as he placed his own hand on her head as well, which made them both chuckle softly.

"Let me get you a blanket before I help you sit up," she said, moving over to the closet and throwing it open. "I believe dinner is waiting downstairs. You could use some food in you."

After digging in the closet for a few moments, Scarlett found a soft cream blanket and swiftly walked over to softly place the fabric at the foot of the bed before turning her attention back to Rick.

"Alright, let's get you up," she mumbled, grabbing a hold of one of Rick's arms and placing a hand behind his shoulder. "One, two, three."

With a slow but strong pull, Scarlett got Rick up into the sitting position but not without noticing the grimace that shot across his face. Her eyes shifted to his bandage with the fear that his wound might have started bleeding, but there was no sign of the bodily fluid on the wrappings. Rick was able to move his legs off the bed and to the bedroom floor without much pain evident on his face.

"I can probably do this myself, you know." Rick said, raising an eyebrow in Scarlett's direction.

"Well, Mr. Grimes, considering that you've been shot, woken up from a coma, are underfed, and have been hit over the head with a shovel," Scarlett listed off before pausing as she wrapped the blanket around him. "I think I have a bit of a right to be babying you."

"Does kind of seem like I have a target on the back of my head." Rick grunted as he carefully stood up from his spot on the side of the bed.

Scarlett couldn't imagine what he was going through. It was bad enough that the dead were walking about and that they were in this situation to begin with, but waking up to it without realizing what had happened and having no idea where anybody was must have been absolutely terrifying. She was scared enough as it was and she wasn't even in his shoes.

Realizing that she had been staring off into space, Scarlett blinked her eyes rapidly and looked up at Rick. It was easy to tell that the man was in his own mind, trying to come to terms with it all. He didn't even know where his family was, let alone know what was going on with the world. Nobody knew.

She reached up and gave the man a hug, feeling him startle at the sudden action. He returned her embrace after a moment and the two silently stood there taking in each other's presence. They were each other's first familiar face since everything had gone to shit, and it calmed Scarlett to know that she wouldn't be in this alone anymore.

"Come on, let's head downstairs." Scarlett finally said as she broke away from the hug, walking back over to her chair and grabbing her bat before opening up the door for the both of them.

The two of them left the room and carefully made they're way down to the first floor. Scarlett could hear both Morgan and Dwayne in the kitchen, the soft sound of cutlery echoing down the hallway. When the two had spotted the both of them, the father and son duo paused for a moment. Rick tottered into the living and looked around, Scarlett following close behind him as Morgan entered through the kitchen.

"This place…Fred and Cindy Drake's?" Rick questioned and Scarlett shrugged, not knowing many people in the town by a first name basis. She remembered faces, not names.

"Never met 'em." Morgan said from the entrance to the kitchen.

"I've been here," Rick continued as he walked further into the room, looking about. "This is their place."

"It was empty when we got here."

Rick didn't answer as he wandered over to the covered up windows and stared at them for a moment. His arm reached up to move the grey material out of the way as Scarlett's voice halted his action.

"I wouldn't do that." She said quietly as he looked back at her in question.

"The young lady is right," Morgan spoke up. "They'll see the light. There's more of them out there than usual. I never should have fired that gun today."

"The sound draws them out." Scarlett stated to Rick as Morgan walked back into the kitchen.

"And now they're all over the street. Stupid, using the gun," Morgan grumbled as he moved a hot can of food around the table. "But it all happened so fast. I didn't think."

"You shot that man today." Rick stated as both him and Scarlett stood in the doorway of the kitchen. Scarlett gave him a look.

"Man?" Morgan questioned and Scarlett laughed nervously.

"Weren't no man." Dwayne said from his seat at the table.

"The hell was that out your mouth just now?" Morgan demanded and his son sank into his chair slightly.

"It wasn't a man." Dwayne corrected himself.

"You shot him in the street out front. A man." Rick stated, moving into the kitchen.

"Friend, you need glasses. It was a walker," Morgan argued, before pointing at the two unoccupied chairs at the table. "Come on, sit down. Before you fall down."

Rick cast Scarlett a glance but she gave him a slow nod of approval as she pulled out one of the chairs and sat down. The sheriff slowly followed and took a seat as Morgan put some beans on their plates.

"Daddy," Dwayne spoke up once his father had placed the food back down on the table. "Blessin."

"Yeah," Morgan said with a nod, his hand reaching out to his son's as Dwayne reached for hers. Rick gave Scarlett another look, knowing that she didn't like religion much. However, she wasn't under her own roof and was a guest, so she took both Rick and Dwayne's hands and remained quiet. Morgan and Rick were the last to join hands. "Father, we thank the for this food, thy blessings, and we ask you to watch over us in these crazy days. Amen."

The only other person to follow with a quick 'amen' of their own was Dwayne before everyone began eating. The beans were warm but sweet in Scarlett's mouth, not remembering the last time she'd actually eaten something that wasn't a granola bar. She could feel the food's warmth run all the way down into her stomach and she left out a sigh of content.

"Hey mister, do you even know what's going on?" Morgan spoke up after a moment and Rick paused mid bite to return the man's gaze. Scarlett watched silently.

"I woke up today," Rick began, giving Scarlett a look as she stared at him with wide eyes. She hadn't known he had only been awake since today. "In the hospital. Came home, that's all I know."

"You woke up from your coma _today_?" Scarlett questioned, staring at Rick in disbelief as he nodded his head. "I thought it had been at least a few days."

"No, today was the day."

"But you know about the dead people, right?" Morgan asked nervously.

"Yeah I saw a lot of that," Rick replied, staring off into space. "Out on the loading doc, piled in trucks-"

"I don't think he means those one's," Scarlett said softly. "Not the one's the military killed, the one's they didn't."

"The walkers," Morgan clarified as Rick looked between them. "Like the one I shot today. Cause he would've ripped into you, try to eat you, try to get some flesh at least."

Rick remained quiet, his furrowed brows telling everyone else at the table that he didn't believe them.

"I know it sounds insane, like something out of a horror movie," Scarlett explained, giving a quick shake of the head. "But we're telling the truth."

"They're out there now? In the street?" Rick asked.

"Yeah," Morgan replied, his own voice shaking slightly. "They get more active after dark sometimes. Maybe it's the cool air or hell maybe it's just me firing that gun today."

"I made a run to the local corner store this morning, too early that it was still somewhat dark out," Scarlett jumped in. "A whole wave of them tried to get me. I don't think it was your gun."

"But we'll be fine, as long as we stay quiet," Morgan explained. "They'll probably wander off by morning. Though listen, one thing I do know, don't you get bit. We saw your bandage and that's what we were afraid of. Bites kill you. The fever? Burns you out."

"After a while though," Scarlett said, looking down at her plate. "You come back. The symptoms are endless so it's hard to not know you've got it. Dizziness, weakness, fever, hallucinations, chills, nausea, pale skin, dilated pupils, fainting, loss of hair, dehydration, and even coughing up blood. Plus the bite, obviously."

The table remained quiet after her list of signs that came with the bite and she had only realized that all eyes were on her when she looked back up from her plate.

"I was at the hospital the day it happened," she explained. "Wave after wave of people came in with that same endless list of symptoms and no matter what treatment was given to them, nothing stopped it. I've never seen the transformation though, only the before and after."

"We've seen it happen." Dwayne said as his face immediately fell. Morgan placed a hand on his son's arm as reassurance. Scarlett couldn't help but notice the lack of a mother in the picture, so she automatically assumed that had been what the young boy was referring to.

With dinner all done and the table cleaned of dishes and cutlery, everyone moved into the living room. Morgan and Dwayne sat on an air mattress while Rick remained on another, his blanket still wrapped around him. Scarlett, on the other hand, was lying on the couch staring at the notes she had made on the pad of paper, her stomach still warm from the food

"Carl…" Morgan spoke up after almost a half hour of silence, grabbing Rick's attention. "He your son? You said his name today."

"He's a little young than your boy." Rick answered.

"And he's with his mom?" Morgan questioned.

"I hope so-"

"He was last time I saw them," Scarlett said as Rick quickly turned to look at her. "Shane took both Lori and Carl, headed to the city."

"How do you know that?" Rick asked anxiously.

"Cause they stayed at my place before they left."

"When was that?"

"Three weeks ago."

Rick stared at her with wide eyes at the information given to him, but the furrow was still in his brow.

"Why didn't you go with them?" He asked and Scarlett placed her notepad on her lap.

"Victoria was on a field trip when all hell broke loose," she explained, letting out a shaky breath of air. "I waited at home to see if she would come back, but she didn't."

"This your daughter?" Morgan asked.

"No, baby sister," she corrected. "She's sixteen."

Maybe it was because they were sensing that they were treading on thin ice or if it was the fallen look on her face, they stopped asking her questions.

"Dad?" Dwayne questioned, his voice full of sleep.

"Hey." Morgan answered, placing a hand on his son's head.

"Did you ask them?"

Morgan let out a soft but short laugh at the boy's question, causing both Rick and Scarlett to turn their attention in their direction.

"Your gun shot and the way you cleaned his wound?" Morgan said, nodding his head in their direction. "My boy and I got a bit of a bet going on. My boy say you were a bank robber and that you an army medic."

Scarlett and Rick both looked at each other as small smiles formed on the edges of their mouths.

"Yeah, that's me. Deadly as Dillinger. Kapow," Rick chuckled to himself before nodding his head in Scarlett's direction, who gave a short salute. "And this ones going into her fourth year in service."

"Paramedic." Scarlett clarified.

"Sheriff's deputy." Rick said, which caused her to let out a sigh.

"You always gotta one up me don't you?"

Both men let out a soft chuckle at the remark before everyone fell back into a comfortable silence. If anything, Scarlett had wished that it would have lasted a little longer.

The blaring sound of a car alarm going off startled the whole room, Dwayne sitting straight up in a panic at the sound while everyone turned their attention to the boarded up windows. Scarlett stood up from her spot on the couch and Rick did the same as Morgan attempted to comfort his son.

"Hey, it's okay. Daddy's here," he said to Dwayne before looking up at the both of them. "It's nothing. One of them must've bumped a car."

"You sure?" Rick asked as he approached the windows.

"It happened once before. Went off for a few minutes," Morgan said, getting up for his own spot. "Get the light Dwayne."

The young boy nodded, reaching over to the lantern to extinguish the light as Morgan joined Rick and Scarlett by the windows. Scarlett spotted another one near her and did the same thing. Morgan reached out and carefully pulled aside one of the sections of the dark fabric, the opening letting in small amount of moonlight into the room.

"It's the blue one down the street," Morgan said quietly, shifting out of the way for Rick to take a look outside. "Same one as last time. I think we're okay."

"That noise," Rick mumbled, peering out into the street. "Won't it bring more of them?"

"Nothing we can do about it now." Morgan replied as Scarlett peaked out of her own little hole in the covered windows.

The street was full of them, most of the walkers' attention remained fixed on the blaring alarm coming from the car Morgan had pointed out. They all shuffled in that same slow march that Scarlett had yet to become familiar with. She didn't leave her house much for a reason, only when she was desperate for something. Avoiding all contact with the dead was what she aimed for.

"We'll just have to wait it out till morning." She stated, still looking down the street at the hoard of walkers.

"She's here." Dwayne whispered, his voice panicked and shaky. Scarlett was confused with the statement as she looked down at the young boy. She turned her attention back out the window to see a woman dressed in a white sleeping gown, obviously a walker. Something was more unsettling about her than the others, but Scarlett assumed that the boy was afraid for a different reason.

"Don't look," Morgan informed his son, his voice shaky too. "Get away from the windows. I said go, come on."

Taking one last peek to see the woman turning her attention to the house, Scarlett watched as Dwayne ran back to their blow up mattress and began sobbing uncontrollably. Morgan quickly followed his son and sat down beside him.

"Quiet. Come on, quiet now." Morgan urged, attempting to get the boy to cry into a pillow in order to soften the noise he was making.

Scarlett had a pretty good idea of the situation now. It didn't take much to figure it out and she automatically felt her heart sink lower into her chest.

Rick was still looking through the boarded up windows at the woman. Wondering if she should pull him away, Scarlett decided to let him be. He needed to see what was out there, even if it did risk them being seen or heard.

After a moment, Rick walked away from the window and over to the front door. Following quietly behind him, she watched as he gazed through the peephole and out into the street. Scarlett could hear soft footsteps walking up the stairs onto the front porch of the house. It was ominous and unnerving, making her stomach turn over on itself.

"It's okay, cry into here." Morgan whispered to his son from the other room, quieting the boy's sobs even more.

Scarlett heard the footsteps cease on the other side of the door and watched as Rick's breathing stopped as well. She assumed the woman was just on the other side of the door, and when she heard the twisting of the doorknob, she felt ice run through her veins.

How the walker knew how to fiddle with a doorknob was beyond Scarlett. She was thankful that they had put up extra planks on the door than what she would do at her own home.

Both quite freaked out, Scarlett and Rick returned to their spots in the living room. Dwayne's sobs had stopped, though his head still remained under the pillow in Morgan's lap. Scarlett grabbed the blanket she had and wrapped it around herself as she tucked her knees up to her chest.

"She, uh. She died in the other room on that bed," Morgan began, his voice shaky and full of dismay. "There was nothing I could do about it. I just…that fever, man. Skin gave off a heat like a furnace."

Scarlett's eyes were fixed on Morgan's face, her eyebrows creased with melancholy as she listened to the story of his wife. It was horrid hearing about it, so she couldn't imagine losing someone close like that to something so malevolent as this infection.

"I should have…I should have put her down," he continued, attempting to hold back his own tears. "I know that, but…I just didn't have it in me. She's the mother of my child."

Rick cast Scarlett a sorrowful look, which she returned with her eyes. The sound of the doorknob turning in the other room still echoed to where they were. It continued for a few more hours and Scarlett couldn't find sleep, knowing that the undead were around and walking. Literally knocking on their front door.

* * *

 _Done!_

 _Alright this will be the last chapter for a few days, but its nice to start the beginning of the canon story. That's when things get interesting._

 _Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed! Feedback is always welcome._

 _Take care,_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


	4. Along Separate Paths

_Hello!_

 _Here's another chapter, not much to say lol._

 _Thank you to SilencEloquent for following the story! It means a lot to me :D_

 _For some reason, I'm having trouble reading the review that was posted today, either it's because the user deleted it or this website is breaking on me. Anyhow, I'm going to respond to it nonetheless because it made me smile so damn hard._

 _Georgetteb321: Your comment is the reason I got the drive to write this next chapter. My writer's block has been quite bad recently and only now is it slowly starting to lift. I'm so glad you're enjoying Scarlett and how she's being written. It means the world to me that it's grabbed your attention enough with only 3 chapters out, so I dedicate this chapter to you, my friend. Thank you for kind words. I do, in fact, plan on writing this story all the way up to the most recent season, though it might take me a while and I ask that you all bare with me lol. In terms of there being a Lucille vs. Stella, all I can say is to stay tuned. ;D_

 _Anyways! Here's the chapter. Enjoy~_

* * *

"You have a choice. You can either take the wooden bat or Stella. I will not be offended if you choose the first, just mildly disappointed."

Morning had come not a moment too soon and it was mutually decided that they would take Rick out to show him how to kill a walker. He wasn't exactly thrilled, while on the contrary would have worried Scarlett that he were a serial killer and that she had failed to recognize this over the years she had known him. If she had missed this, what would that say about her investigation skills? However, he was luckily repulsed, which was the appropriate way to look at the situation from a first time experience like this.

Rick raised an eyebrow at her regarding her comment and she simply stared at him waiting for him to choose. Much to her content, he chose Stella.

With the metal bat in his hands, the four of them opened the front door and headed outside. The hoard of walkers from the previous night was all gone, with the exception being a single walker leaning against the neighbouring fence. With a mask to protect his face and Stella in hand, Rick was as ready as he was going to be.

"Are we sure they're dead?" He asked as they stood on the front porch. "I have to ask this one more time."

"They dead." Morgan assured him as they slowly walked down the steps onto the front walk. "Except for something in the brain. That's why its gotta be the head."

"Always the head." Scarlett echoed, pointing a finger at Rick.

As they continued down the front lawn, the lone walker had finally noticed them and a small moan had come from its mouth. Once it was stood up, the soft moan turned into an aggressive growl. Blood coated his teeth and lips, approaching them with a fast shuffle.

Rick walked and hit it over the head, but not hard enough. With barely any damage done, he tried again and again. It was like with each blow, he came to understand that it wasn't human anymore and he would hit it a little bit harder. Eventually left with a walker with a bashed in skull, the corpse collapsed to the ground and Rick fell onto his knees, clutching his stomach. Scarlett, Morgan, and Dwayne walked over to check on him and the state of the walker. Blood covered the front of Rick's white shirt and he gripped his wound through his shirt.

"You okay?" Scarlett asked, but when he failed to answer she sighed. "Okay, stupid question. I know bashing in something's head isn't good for the stomach, but you will get used to it eventually."

She leaned down and pulled up the side of his shirt, taking a quick look at his bandage. Seeing no spotting on the wrappings, Scarlett released his shirt, grabbing Stella from the grass and stood back up again.

"We'll give you a moment." Morgan said, to which she nodded.

Once calmed down and nausea free, the four of them made their way over to the Grimes' house. While Scarlett had already informed Rick of Lori and Carl's location, she knew he would want to double check just to make sure they made it out of their area safely.

Walking through the front door and dropping his face protector, Rick marched through the house with the rest of them following behind him.

"They're alive," Rick said, still breathing heavy from earlier. "My wife and son. At least they were when they left."

"How can you know?" Morgan asked. "While Scarlett did say they left, she didn't leave with them. After they left her place, we don't know what happened."

"What about the empty drawers?" Scarlett said, coming from the bedroom into the dinning room where the rest of them were. "Looks like they packed up some stuff. Not that much though."

"You know anybody could have broken in here and stolen clothes, right?" Morgan stated, knowing he had a point.

"See any framed photos on the walls?" Rick asked, pointing to the empty hooks that remained on bare walls. "Neither do I. Some random thief take those too, you think?"

To prove his argument, Rick walked over and opened up one of the cabinets to reveal a few large black books.

"Our photo albums, family pictures, all gone." He continued as Morgan began softly laughing to himself out of disbelief.

"Photo albums," Morgan said to himself, still chuckling as he sat down at the table. "My wife…same thing. There I am packin' survival gear and she's grabbin' photo albums."

Scarlett could tell that he was trying to keep himself together and all that was keeping him from losing his calm composure was a single thread at this point. It was hard to watch. He would probably relive every moment that he could remember with his wife until the day he died, especially the terrible ones. Those would be the freshest in his mind.

"They're in Atlanta I bet." Dwayne spoke up after a moment.

"That's where they told me they were headed." Scarlett nodded, turning her attention to Rick.

"That's right." Morgan breathed out, trying to regain his self-control.

"Why there?" Rick asked, looking between the faces that were in the room with him.

"Refugee Centre. Huge one they said before the broadcast stopped." Morgan explained, his breath still coming in short bursts.

"Military protection, food, shelter, you name it," Scarlett threw in. "They told people to go there, said it would be the safest option."

"Plus they got that disease place." Dwayne spoke up and Scarlett nodded at his words.

"Centre for Disease Control. " She clarified, continuing to nod as she fell into thought. "I'm sure they're working on a cure for this thing."

Rick appeared lost in thought as well as he turned from them and walked into the other room. Opening a cabinet and grabbing a pair of keys, he returned to them and Scarlett knew immediately what he was thinking.

"The station?" She asked, her eyes lighting up.

"The station."

"Rick Grimes, you're a damn genius."

* * *

A part of her was afraid to even get her hopes up at the thought of there being some decent equipment at the police station. The chance of other officers taking everything or someone breaking in to claim the supplies as there own was plausible. With that in mind, Scarlett remained quiet for the majority of the trip to the station. There were only a few infected around and all four members of their small group had a weapon to protect themselves. Scarlett let Rick take out the occasional walker, knowing he needed the practice. It would be difficult to get used to for him and hell, she wasn't even used to it herself. She just hoped that someone would come up with a way to fight this infection sooner than later.

Upon their arrival to the station, the single floor building looked abandoned. The lights were off inside and it felt wrong looking at the place in the state that it was in. Even the police had taken off while they could and Scarlett didn't blame them for it one bit.

Walking inside the deserted building was a whole other story. Being paranoid out of her mind, Scarlett listened carefully for any shuffling or movement as they made their way to the back of the station. Rick pulled open a heavy door, which lead to the kitchen, lounge, showers, and of course, the equipment. With a few flashlights in hand, they walked down the narrow hall, past the kitchen and into the locker room, which had multiple shower heads lined up. Being the only spot in the building where natural light came pouring in through the windows above them, they placed their things down and Rick walked over to one of the showers. He reached out, turned the handle and Scarlett, Morgan and Dwayne all watched as water came shooting out of the head.

"The gas lines have been down now for maybe a month." Morgan explained, looking at the water in awe.

"The station's got it's own propane system," Rick said, placing his hand under the running water and smiling. "Pilot's still on."

The looks on their faces were priceless. While Scarlett had showered yesterday, she didn't know when she'd be able to actually bathe herself again after this and she didn't want to take her chances.

"Scarlett, the women's showers are just down the hall." Rick pointed out and she gave him a nod before grabbing her stuff and heading to the showers.

Even before she stepped into the water herself, Scarlett could hear the men letting out cries of relief and soft praises to God. She didn't bother holding in her laughter, a wide smile on her lips as she moved under the stream of water and began washing her body. There was even a bottle of soap to use, which she had found on the bench beside the showers.

When she was all washed up and dirt free, she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. Scarlett decided to throw her old clothes back on, considering that they weren't that dirty to begin with. After wringing out her hair as best as she could, she packed up all her things and exited the showers, only to meet up with the boys near the gun storage.

"Shopping time?" Scarlett questioned with a scoff as they all moved towards the metal cage.

Placing a key into the lock and removing the chains, Rick opened up the weapon cage for the four of them.

"Lot of it's gone missing." Rick stated, grabbing one of the rifles off its rack.

"I'm surprised that there's even stuff here to begin with." Scarlett mumbled as she placed her hands on a Mossberg 500.

She looked around at what was left of the contents of the cage and was genuinely surprised by the number of weapons left. There were multiple handguns to her right and she recognized some of them. A few Glock 17s, a Browning BDA, two different Smith & Wesson models, and a Colt were the names she could remember.

"Daddy, can I learn to shoot?" Dwayne asked, looking up at his father. "I'm old enough."

"Hell yes you're gonna learn," Morgan replied as he rolled up his sleeves, turning his attention back to his son. "But we've gotta do it carefully, teach you to respect the weapon."

"That's right, it's not a toy," Rick indicated, the same rifle still in his hands from before. "You pull the trigger, you have to mean it. Always remember that, Dwayne."

"Yes, sir." The boy responded, and Scarlett knew he meant it.

"I'm going to grab all the ammo I can fit into the few bags here." She spoke up after a moment, nodding her head in the direction of multiple sheriff's bag in the corner.

"Throw in about a dozen handguns if you can, and keep in mind we have to fit a few rifles and shotguns in them, too." Rick commented, to which Scarlett nodded.

Dwayne helped pack the ammo while Scarlett focused her attention on the guns, grabbing the one's she had listed off earlier, including a SIG-Sauer P226, and a Bruni Olympic 6. Rick handed her the shotguns and rifles that he had decided to take with them and she quickly stuffed them into the bag. Before she knew it, they had cleaned out the locker and headed out into the back area of the station.

"Conserve your ammo, it goes faster than you think," Rick stated, now fully dressed in his uniform and the bag of guns in his hand. "Especially at target practice."

They all marched toward the vehicles that were parked in the back lot. Rick was headed towards one of the police cruisers while Morgan sent Dwayne over to another car further down the lot.

"I've decided to head to Atlanta while Morgan and Dwayne stay here for a while," Rick explained to Scarlett as he loaded the bag of guns into the back seat of the police vehicle. "I assumed you'd be coming with me, but your sister-"

"She won't be coming back," Scarlett cut him off as he turned his attention back onto her. "At least not anytime soon. As pathetic as it seems, I don't really want to be alone anymore, and most certainly not alone in that house. I think it would be better if I came with you."

Rick stared silently at her, his eyes full of sympathy, as he understood, to a certain extent, what had happened in that house. He had known that her father had been a horrible man, even before her mother had passed away. While the loss had seemed to send him into overdrive, it had not made him the cruel person he was. Scarlett believed that he was born with evil in his bones, and Rick didn't dare question her.

"I probably would've dragged you with me, even if you had planned to stay behind." Rick admitted and Scarlett smiled softly.

Hearing the car door shut from across the lot, both Dwayne and Morgan walked over to the cruiser, obviously ready to go.

"Are you sure you won't come with us?" Rick asked, his face hopeful.

"A few more days," Morgan explained with a sigh. "By then, Dwayne will know how to shoot and I won't be so rusty."

Nodding his head at Morgan's decision, Rick moved back and opened up the passenger's seat door. Reaching into the bag and pulling out a small black device, he came back and placed it into the palm of Morgan's hand. A walkie-talkie.

"You got one battery," Rick explained, causing the other to nod. "I'll turn ours on a few minutes every day at dawn. You get up there? That's how you find us."

"You think ahead." Morgan observed.

"Can't afford not to. Not anymore."

Scarlett felt more than a little blue at the fact that the father and son were staying behind. While they had only been with them for roughly twenty-four hours, they had helped both her and Rick for many different reasons. For the both of them, they had given them food and shelter. For Rick, they had taken him in and brought him to light on the new horror that was their reality.

For Scarlett, they had been the first people she had seen since everything had gone to hell and their hospitality had given her a little hope mentally that things would end up okay. They had trusted Scarlett without much going for her and allowed her to patch up Rick in a safe environment. They were a saving grace in this whole nightmare and Scarlett found it difficult to let them go.

"I have something that belongs to you." Morgan spoke up, bringing Scarlett back to attention when she realized he was addressing her. The man reached into his belt and pulled out the gun Shane had given her when they had left her behind.

"The Colt?" Rick questioned, a small smile on his face. "You were always good with that gun. While the others were okay, you did enjoy having that one in your hands."

"Shane gave it to me before they left for Atlanta," Scarlett explained before looking up at Morgan. "Thank you."

The man nodded at her appreciation, turning his attention to not just her, but to the both of them.

"Listen, one thing, they may not seem like much one at a time, but in a group all riled up and hungry? Man, you watch your ass." Morgan warned, something Scarlett knew a little too well from her encounter yesterday but was thankful that he had brought it up to Rick.

"You too." the sheriff's deputy replied, reaching out and shaking the other man's hand.

"You a good man, Rick. I hope you find your wife and son," Morgan stated firmly before reaching out to shake Scarlett's hand as well. "And you, Scarlett. You a smart woman, watch out for each other."

"Will do," she replied, shaking his hand securely. "Again, thank you, truly. I hope our paths cross again soon."

The man nodded in agreement, taking a step back as Dwayne slowly approached both Scarlett and Rick.

"Be seeing you, Dwayne," he said, shaking the boy's hand. "You take care of your old man."

"Yes sir."

"Good luck with learning the ways of the gun," Scarlett said as the boy reached out to shake her hand as well. "It'll be frustrating at first, but you'll get the hang of it. We'll see you two again real soon."

"Thank you." The boy replied, a small smile on his face as he moved beside his father.

Watching, as the two were about to turn, Scarlett heard a faint moaning sound coming from a ways behind her. All four pairs of eyes turned to spot a walker dressed in police uniform clawing at the fence that separated them. His walkie-talkie dragged on the ground behind him and his growls got louder the longer he stood there attacking the fence.

"Is that…?" Scarlett questioned, the contorted face of the walker looking vaguely familiar.

"Leon Basset?" Rick mumbled, apparently recognizing the face as well.

The four of them watched as the walker continued to tear at the fence, his mouth wide and gaping. His teeth would occasionally clash, making a rather horrific noise to the ears.

"Didn't think much of him." Rick admitted, letting out a breath. "Careless and dumb, but…I can't leave him like this."

"You know they'll hear the shot." Morgan stated eyebrows furrowed.

"Then let's not be here when they show up." Scarlett said, nodding at Rick to go take care of his coworker.

"Let's go, son. Come on." Morgan said as the two of them jogged off towards their car.

Scarlett decided to get into the police cruiser and wait for Rick to finish. They'd need to get out as soon as the shot rang out if they wanted to avoid coming into contact with a wave of the infected. She fiddled with the colt in her hands and checked the chamber for rounds, quite content to see that all the slots were full with ammunition. Using a bat or anything that didn't make the noise like a gun did was what Scarlett preferred, knowing she could get in and get out without bringing too much attention to herself. While guns were useful and required much less physical effort, she would use Stella over a gun any day.

The shot finally rang out and Scarlett turned just in time to see the walker fall down, one of it's hands still holding on to the metal fence. Blood dripped down from its forehead where a bullet wound remained and Rick quickly ran back over to the car and got in.

Once moving, Morgan's car turned right onto the road and gave a few honks. Rick and Scarlett's cruiser turned left, letting a few rings of the siren go off as the two cars went their separate ways. They drove for a little, not much being said. It was only when they pulled over near the park Scarlett had ran through the day Rick was shot that she turned to him in question.

"I need to do something real quick, you don't need to come with." Rick explained as he cut the engine and stepped out of the car.

Scarlett furrowed her brows in confusion but nonetheless got out of the cruiser as well and followed behind Rick with Stella over her shoulder. She knew right away that he was looking for something, but she didn't have a clue as to what it was. Deciding not to question the man, she kept her eyes peeled instead, watching for any sort of threat. Thankfully, it seemed as though barely any infected where in the park and Scarlett guessed that the majority of them had headed in the direction of the shot Rick had set off ten minutes ago.

Noticing the slow in Rick's step, Scarlett looked down and saw what he had been looking for. A few feet ahead remained the upper half of a walker, which was attempting to crawl along the grass using nothing but it's arms to drag itself around. By the way it moved, it was slow, even for a normal walker. She could tell it was weak and that the reason they had come all the way here was for Rick to put it out of its misery.

The both of them had stopped once beside the walker, Rick kneeling down as the walker let out a wheeze. It looked like girl, not that old either. The thought broke Scarlett's heart.

The walker finally glanced up to see the two and looked at them pleadingly. Whether it was the hunger or the suffering that she reached out for, Scarlett couldn't tell.

"I'm sorry this happened to you." Rick said, the genuine empathy clear in his voice.

The walker continued to stare at him as he reached into the holster on his belt and pointed the gun at its head. Reaching out a hand to him as another moan left its mouth, Rick shot the walker in the head and it fell lifeless into the grass.

Scarlett could tell that this walker in particular was special to Rick in the way his face morphed with pain and sadness. She didn't think it was anyone he knew, but it could have been the fact that it was only half a walker as well. Not having a clue, she placed a hand on his shoulder and the man looked up at her.

"Come on, let's get out of here." She whispered to him, watching him stand up and the two walked off in the direction of their car.

Walking at a brisk pace, the two managed to get into the car without any trouble, the weight of killing the walker still obviously a bit heavy on Rick's shoulders but Scarlett remained silent; she didn't want to pry into his thoughts, those where his alone.

"That was the first one I ever saw." Rick spoke up after a few minutes of silent driving.

Scarlett nodded, the statement making perfect sense.

"You felt a responsibility to put it down." She sighed, knowing she had hit the nail right on the head when Rick glanced over at her.

"What was your first encounter?"

"Without counting all the infected at the hospital, the first walker I saw took a bite out of a guy wearing full riot armor," Scarlett said, looking out the window shield. "It ripped him apart like it was nothing. The entire thing was horrible, I'm glad you didn't experience it."

"What happened at the hospital?" Rick questioned and she knew she had to give him a full answer.

"Both Shane and I had gone to see you. We'd heard helicopter's flying above the hospital but we didn't pay it much attention," Scarlett explained. "The military was rushing all the nurses and doctors out but shooting all the patients, thinking they were all infected. To be fair, a lot of them were, but not all of them. You being one of the exceptions."

"But they didn't shoot me."

"Something had been dropped on the hospital and all the power had gone out," she continued, trying to explain it all. "Shane didn't hear a heart beat and your monitors wouldn't turn on so the military thought you were dead regardless. We did too, but we closed your door and put a gurney in front of it just in case the infected tried to get into your room."

"That was you two?" Rick questioned, glancing over at her.

"That was us," Scarlett replied, a sad smile on her lips. "We thought you were dead, but we couldn't bare to leave you without some sort of protection. Even if it was as useless as a closed door and a gurney."

"Thank you." Rick said clearly, his words sincere. It made her smile; knowing he didn't need to thank her but took the time to anyways.

"You're welcome."

Silence had fallen once again in the car and Scarlett continued to look out the windows at either the road or the trees that stood tall on either side of them. She traced the wrappings around the base of her metal bat, something she did when she was bored or in need of calming. The wrappings helped her hold a better grip on the heavy bat, but she was so used to swinging it now that it felt as light as a feather.

Scarlett remembered the day she'd received the bat. It was about a year after her father had left both her and her sister alone with the house. Since she was nineteen, she worked hard to balance her part-time job, university, and raising her little sister. Being lucky enough to ride through university on a scholarship, the only money she had to worry about was reserved for the mortgage and the food. It was around that time, drained out of her mind and struggling to stay afloat, where the Grimes had stepped into their life. Not only had they given her a bit of money to put towards food and other things, they provided the emotional support that she'd needed to keep herself moving forward.

They'd even spent Christmas day together that year and Scarlett had managed to scavenge up a bit of spare money to get gifts for everyone. While they were small in size, they were meaningful gifts and she could tell this by the twinkle of their eyes and small 'o' their mouths made out of wonder. It made her happy, seeing the people that supported her smile. What she wasn't expecting, however, was a gift in return.

She had told everyone that she hadn't wanted anything and that their company was enough. Of course her wishes were ignored and Victoria had handed her a long rectangular box wrapped in dark purple paper.

"It's from everyone." Victoria had said to her, placing the gift on her lap.

At a loss for words, Scarlett had slowly but carefully torn the paper away from the plain white box underneath. She had no clue as to what it could've been at the time, but when she opened the box to reveal the metal bat she swore that her heart had grown three times its size.

While to most people, it would have appeared to be a simple metal bat, it meant so much more to her and she would carry it with her till the day she died.

"There's a gas station up ahead, could use a top up on gas." Rick stated out of the blue, startling Scarlett a bit.

The man was right and Scarlett watched as the cruiser came to a slow stop just outside the station. Cars were abandoned all across the lot and street, making it almost impossible to pull the car up to the pump. Scarlett figured that Rick had an alternate proposal and purely followed him out of the car. Grabbing a gas canister out of the trunk, Rick slowly made his way forward to the station with Scarlett by his side.

Cars of all makes and sizes were laid out before them, a path of destruction leading to the gas station. Windows were smashed in, old blood dried on car doors, the occasional dead body sat unmoving within it all, and not to mention the eerie silence that surrounded them like a fog. Walking further into the gas station proved to only worsen the devastation. Small tents had been set up that were now abandoned and littered with trash. Ripped clothes were strewn about like someone had torn violently through their suitcase. There were even toys scattered about, such as a small bike and a few dolls that made Scarlett's skin crawl.

Rick peered into one of the windows of the vehicles; the sound of flies buzzing reaching Scarlett's ears well before she looked inside the car as well, only to reveal two dead bodies with the skin rotting away.

Taking a few steps further, Scarlett's eyes fell upon a handmade sign that rattled against the wind, it's message of _NO GAS_ making her sigh.

"Why am I even surprised?" She mumbled as Rick came up beside her, noticing the sign too.

Prepared to head back in the direction of their car, the soft shuffling of feet touched Scarlett's ears. By the way he had frozen, she knew that Rick had heard the noise as well. Figuring out that the sound was coming from their left, the two of them got down on their hands and knees to look under the car. A pair of small legs could be seen, the person's feet covered with bunny slippers. Coming to a halt, the little girl came to a stop and slowly reached down to grab a teddy near their feet, shuffling off again once the bear was in hand.

Rick immediately shot up and began walking in the same direction as the young girl while Scarlett remained causiously by his side. The child had turned down another row of cars and was heading away from them, her long blonde hair hanging down her back.

"Little girl?" Rick called out, walking into the same row as her. "I'm a policeman. Little girl."

With the way the child had paused at the sound of Rick's voice, Scarlett knew something was up. She stepped forward and placed a hand on his arm.

"Rick, I don't-" She began, only to be cut off.

"Don't be afraid," Rick continued speaking to the child. "Okay? Little girl?"

When the young girl had turned around and showed them her blood stained shirt along with her torn-up mouth, Scarlett felt her stomach drop. She felt Rick freeze under her grip as well, his hand reaching for his gun as the little girl began moaning and moving towards them.

Scarlett didn't allow her mind a minute to think, knowing the sight of the child would disturb her thoughts more than they already were. Taking Stella firmly in her fists, she took a small step forward and swung her bat across her body. The end of the bat came into contact with the young girl's temple, completely decimating the right side of her face. Scarlett decided to take an extra swing just to be certain, bringing it down on the fallen walker's head and watching as it crumpled in on itself.

Unable to look at the sight much longer, Scarlett looked back at Rick, who had pulled his gun from his belt but remained staring at the child on the ground.

"No point in wasting bullets," she managed to say, her own stomach turning around uncomfortably. "Let's get out of here. We'll just have to make due with the gas we have."

"I could have dealt with it." Rick stated as he walked with her through the maze of cars.

"Yeah, but I wasn't about to let you kill a walker around the same age as your own damn son," she replied, trying to rub the blood off of her bat. "I don't think so. Not today."

Rick remained silent and she knew that she had a point. It would have messed him up even more and while he should be trying to expose himself to killing more walkers, Scarlett wasn't comfortable with him dealing with something as saddening as killing a walker that once was a child. Not when he had a boy as his own. With Scarlett, her baby sister was way older than that now and wouldn't have the same difficulties that Rick might have had. Of course she was trying to forget what she'd just done, but she had a feeling that little girl would haunt her nightmares for the next few days.

* * *

 _Chapter complete!_

 _I hope this chapter made sense, I'm half asleep right now so I pray that it comes across as somewhat understandable lol. Feedback is always welcome!_

 _Next chapter, Scarlett and Rick head to the big city and get swarmed. I'm assuming you know what happens after that..._

 _Will update soon,_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


	5. Two Dumbasses in a Tank

_Hello!_

 _My apologies for taking forever with this chapter. These past few weeks have been absolutely hectic so I appreciate your patience everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and here's to a fresh start in 2017!_

 _Enjoy~_

* * *

Back in the car and on the road again, Scarlett attempted to clean her bat using a few leaves she had picked up. She wouldn't use tissues or cloth, knowing that they would come in handy later. Once she was done with one leaf, she'd toss it out the window and move onto the next one.

Along a long stretch of road, Scarlett watched as Rick reached out and grabbed the car radio speaker, bringing it up to his lips.

"Broadcasting on emergency channel. Will be approaching Atlanta on highway 85," he began saying, speaking into static. "If anybody reads, please respond."

Rick dropped the speaker onto his lap while Scarlett turned her attention back out the window, watching as a few thunderclouds circled off in the distance.

"Hello, hello, can anybody hear my voice?" He continued. "Anybody out there? If anybody hears me, please respond."

Stringing out the same line over the radio every few minutes, Rick eventually gave up and put the radio away. It was depressing, hearing nothing on the other end of the broadcast. It made the pit in Scarlett's stomach deeper and she knew he felt the same way. She figured it would be all right eventually and was glad that they at least had a moving vehicle with them.

Scarlett was almost in disbelief when the car ran out of gas roughly thirty minutes after she'd praised their luck with the car. She looked over at Rick and he did the same, a loud sigh coming from the two of them.

"Now I know never to be optimistic ever again." Scarlett mumbled to herself as she got out of the car and grabbed her pack.

With all their things in hand, the two began their journey on foot. She'd offered to carry the bag of guns, but Rick refused. Figuring he could use a bit of a boost to his man-ego, Scarlett didn't push him too much on the matter. A few miles of walking in silence did her some good, knowing that talking would only make their journey more difficult than it needed to be. While there were thunderclouds off in the distance, the air was thick with humidity and Scarlett's hair had stuck itself against the sweat of her neck. Rick had offered her his hat for protection from the somewhat bright sky, but she politely refused him.

She'd almost missed the white house that had come up on their right, her eyes clouded with thought. It was only when Rick placed a hand on her shoulder that she stopped to see the small home. They approached it with an air of curiosity and caution, weary of the unknown. It looked abandoned, no sign of movement coming from inside the house. They walked up onto the porch, Rick keeping a hand on his gun while Scarlett did the same with Stella. Peering into one of the windows, it took every ounce of her being to not gag at the sight inside the house.

Two bodies remained in what looked like the living room of the small home. One of them was a woman, who remained spread out on the floor with a bullet wound protruding from her temple. The second of the two bodies was a man, seated in a lazy boy chair with a shotgun between his legs and the top of his head blown off. The words "GOD FORGIVE US" were written on the wall in blood.

Scarlett shook her head and looked away, trying to get the image out of her mind.

"Let's check the car." She mumbled after a moment.

While they had gotten lucky with the door of the car being open, Rick had let out a sigh when he failed to find the keys to get it moving. Scarlett slowly made her way around the back of the house and she came across a fenced in plot of land that looked just as disserted as everything else they had come across.

Well, that's what she thought at first.

"Rick!" Scarlett called, not caring about the volume of her voice. She was too shocked to look away from her discovery.

The sheriff had come running from the front of the house at her yell of his name, coming to a halting stop beside Scarlett as her discovery let out a neigh of protest.

A lone horse remained standing amongst the abandoned plot of land, it's only protection being the fence that kept it in place. It was a beautiful thing, seeing something so majestic. Especially in times like these.

"You know how to ride a horse?" Scarlett asked as Rick slowly opened the gate.

"It's been a few years, but I've done it before," he replied, carefully approaching the horse and uttering praises to it. "Hey there. What are you doing out here all alone?"

Somehow, Rick had managed to gain the trust of the horse. He stroked its face while Scarlett searched for some sort of reins for the stallion. Eventually finding something usable, she slowly approached the content animal and the sheriff.

"Think we can ride to Atlanta by horse?" Scarlett questioned as she gave Rick the reins.

"It's better than walking," Rick replied, sending her a quick look. "You ever rode a horse?"

"No, but there's a first time for everything, right?"

Rick chuckled at her nervous reply, carefully managing to get on the horse's back. Giving Scarlett a hand up, the man steadied the both of them on top of their new ride before giving a slight tug of the reins. The horse shot forward and Scarlett let out a small yelp as she tried to keep their supplies from flying off.

While her thighs and hips were screaming from the lack of a saddle on the horse, Scarlett was glad to be off her feet. She held on tightly to the back of Rick's shirt as they slowly made their way closer to the city. It was odd not seeing any walkers on their journey to Atlanta, leaving Scarlett unsure of whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe the army had cleared out all the infected near the city, but something about that logic didn't sit well with her.

They had somehow managed to get onto the highway that lead straight into the heart of Atlanta, the road leading into the city remaining abandoned with the one that lead out was packed with deserted cars. The sight made her stomach turn uneasy. Plus, she didn't notice any sort of military set up. Perhaps they were still on the outskirts of the safe zone.

She was looking for anyone at this point, her breathing turning shallow as they entered further into the city. There were no tents, no moving vehicles, and no people. The silence that rang in Scarlett's ears couldn't manage to drown out the rapid beat of her heart or the sounds of the horse's hooves hitting the pavement. Windows were smashed in, cars were burned into nothing, and the occasional bloodstain could be seen on the sidewalks. This was not the safety zone they had been looking for. The exact opposite feeling of safety sat heavy in the air, Scarlett keeping her eyes peeled for any movement and steadied her grip on the back of Rick's shirt.

"Rick, I don't like this." Scarlett stated, just barely above a whisper.

"Neither do I, but we need to keep going." The man replied, his gaze cast upon the street as he scanned the area.

"This isn't right. We should have come across someone by now…"

"I know, but let's go up a few more blocks. If we don't see anyone, we'll leave the city and figure out what to do next, okay?"

She didn't like the idea, but Scarlett remained quiet. Wanting to hold on to that tiny glimmer of hope of finding a safe zone just like Rick, her gut was telling her something completely different. She didn't feel safe, and she figured there was a pretty damn logical reason behind it.

Walking past a burned bus and hearing the sounds of shuffling, their horse let out a sound of fear. Scarlett watched as a few walkers trickled out what was left of the bus and begun moving towards them. Rick gave a quick snap of the reins and they trotted down the road and away from the approaching infected.

As she was about to state her displeasure of their surroundings once again, the sound of helicopter blades twirling picked up in her ears. She knew Rick had heard it as well by the way he stiffened and slowly looked up. Bringing her attention to the sky between the buildings, Scarlett searched for any sight of a living being. The continued through the streets, following the sound until Rick let out a small gasp.

"There, did you see it? In the reflection of the building?" He questioned, but Scarlett failed to see anything.

"No, but I definitely heard it," she replied, adjusting the bag on her back. "I say we go-"

It was when they had rounded one of the city corners that her voice halted in her throat. Scarlett had thought that she'd felt all forms of fear in her life, but nothing compared to the sight in front of her in that moment.

It was the largest herd she'd seen by far. Hundreds of walkers were packed together in between the city buildings, taking up every inch of space available to them. Their clothes were ripped, their bodies soaked with new and old blood, certain organs were pouring out from wounds in their skin, and their dead eyes had landed on them the moment they had trotted into their point of view.

Rick urged the horse to turn sharply and go back the way they came, the animal quickly following its instructions. Holding onto both Rick and the bag on her back, Scarlett could hear the herd of walkers coming after them. Their footsteps sounded like thunder and their voices all coursed together with moans and groans, echoing off the tall buildings that loomed over them.

In their attempts of getting away from the mob, yet another group of walkers blocked their path back out of the city. The two of them had nowhere to go as the infected slowly approached them from all angles. They were screwed and they knew it.

In a fit of panic and adrenaline, Scarlett began looking around at their surroundings. The majority of the buildings had their doors bashed in, a good number of the cars were burnt into nothing but metal frames, and the both of them were slowly losing time by the minute.

Only when the two of them had fallen off the horse did Scarlett notice the tank.

"Rick!" She cried from the pavement as she heard panicked and horrific noises coming from their horse, which was now overrun by the dead. The man had fallen just off to her left, locking eyes with her as dread filled both of their eyes.

Scarlett was beyond terrified. There was only the slightest chance that the two of them would get out of this alive and that scared her more than anything. She'd been through a lot in her life, enough to make her want to end it a few times. Never having the strength to leave her sister alone in this world, Scarlett came to the conclusion that she had only struggled through it for her. She'd gone to university, managed a few part time jobs at once, and worked her ass off as a paramedic to put food on the table all for her baby sister.

She'd wanted to give Victoria something Scarlett had never had.

A safe place to call home and the loving care that she deserved.

And now that Scarlett remained flat against a street with the dead walking around her and the possibility of death so close, she realized she wasn't ready to die. Not yet at least.

"Tank!" Was all Scarlett could yell through the crowd of walkers at Rick as she began crawling towards the armored vehicle. Not having a chance to see if he was following her, she managed to dodge a few walkers and slide her frame under the body of the tank. Much to her mild relief, Rick had managed to slide in beside her, though not without gaining the attention of a few infected.

The walkers had started trying to crawl under the tank after them, to which Scarlett and Rick reached for their firearms and began firing at will. Rick shot at one end while Scarlett shot at the other, the bodies slowly piling up but not fast enough to stop the trickle of walkers that were coming towards them.

Scarlett could feel Rick's eyes on her and she couldn't bring herself to look back at him, knowing that was his way of saying goodbye. She wouldn't do it, no matter how screwed they were, she couldn't look at him. Her eyes were watering either from fear or sadness and managed to un-blur her eyes to look up at a round opening into the tank.

She hadn't even thought of there being an entrance into the tank through its belly.

Grabbing Rick's arm, Scarlett crawled up into the body of the tank, urging him to follow her quickly. With bewildered eyes, her friend managed to get into the tank just in time for Scarlett to close the small circular door on the frantic hands of hungry walkers.

The both of them backed away from the sounds of scratching coming from the bottom of the tank, Rick ending up beside a dead body and Scarlett beside some radio equipment. That was when she had noticed that the hatch on top of the tank was still open and made a beeline up the ladder. Poking her head out to see the walkers ripping out the insides of the horse as well as crawling up the side of the tank, she quickly slammed the hatch shut and bolted it. The banging overhead startled her back into her spot by the radio, barely hearing both her and Rick's heavy breathing through the noise.

They weren't dead, but they were most certainly trapped.

Scarlett had almost mistaken the moaning from outside the tank to the one that came from the body beside Rick. She looked over just in time to see the walker grabbing a hold of him as he fired a shot into the walker's head.

The sound almost shattered her eardrums. It was astonishing that the bullet hadn't ricocheted off of one of the walls and buried itself into one of their heads. Clutching her ears like her life depended on it, Scarlett closed her eyes to try and ease the pain. It eventually subsided, much to her relief, and looked up to see the walker unmoving beside a worn-out Rick.

"A part of me wants to smack you for thinking it was a good idea to fire a gunshot inside a bulletproof tank, but you didn't have much of a choice." Scarlett mumbled, just barely managing to get a few breaths into her aching lungs.

She got nothing in response and she was fine with that, considering that it was a miracle that they were both still alive somehow. Closing her eyes and focusing on her breathing, Scarlett tried to ignore the sounds coming from outside the tank. They had a moment to rest, and she was truly grateful for that.

The sound of rumbled static startled her from her thoughts, her eyes darting to that of the radio equipment beside her. Rick had looked up from his lap as well and they both eyed it in surprise.

" _Hey, you_ ," a voice called through the radio, making Scarlett's heart stop at the sound of another human being. " _Dumbasses. Yeah, you two in the tank. Cozy in there?_ "

Scarlett's eyes were wide in shock, slowly turning her head in Rick's direction. The man mirrored her exactly, both of them unsure on how to proceed. Were they hearing things?

The radio gave a few hisses, along with a few beeps.

" _Hey, are you alive in there?_ " The voice asked again, and Scarlett shifted the equipment around in search of the returning walkie. Once she found it and had it securely in her grasp, Scarlett pressed the speak button.

"Yeah, we're still alive, smartass." Scarlett replied as Rick crawled over to the radio and sat beside her.

" _There you are, you had me wondering._ " The voice answered, though the person didn't sound exactly thrilled by the name she had given them.

"Where are you? Outside? Can you see us right now?" Scarlett continued to question, her mind racing a thousand miles a minute.

" _Yeah, I can see you_ ," the voice said with a sigh. " _You're surrounded by walkers. That's the bad news_."

"There's good news?"

" _No._ "

Scarlett sighed and passed the radio to Rick, figuring that he would get better answers from their new friend than she would.

"Listen, whoever you are, I don't mind telling you we're a little concerned in here." Rick told the person.

" _Oh, man. You should see it from here. You'd be having a major freak-out._ "

"Got any advice for us?"

" _Yeah, I'd say make a run for it._ "

Rick turned and looked at Scarlett who simply raised an eyebrow at him.

"That's it? 'Make a run for it'?" Rick questioned.

" _My way's not as dumb as it sounds,_ " the voice replied. " _You've got eyes on the outside here. There's one geek still up on the tank but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horse went down. With me so far?_ "

"So far."

" _Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you move now while they're distracted, you two stand a chance,_ " the voice continued. " _Got ammo?_ "

Rick let out a sigh, giving Scarlett a troubled look. It was then where she realized their duffel bag full of ammo was nowhere to be found inside the tank.

"In that duffel bag I dropped out there, and guns. Can I get to it?" Rick questioned, his voice somewhat strained.

" _Forget the bag, okay? It's not an option. What do you have on you?_ "

"Hang on."

Rick gave Scarlett the radio as he searched the clothing of the dead military walker that had attacked him only minutes ago. Scarlett counted her own bullets, and took her own inventory. The man crawled back to her, roughly a round of bullets in his hand and a grenade in the other.

"He's got a Beretta with one clip and I've got a Colt with the same, along with a metal bat." Scarlett spoke into the radio.

" _I would stick with the bat if I were you. For him, he better make those shots count,_ " the voice replied. " _Jump off the right side of the tank, keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe fifty yards. Be there._ "

Scarlett dropped the radio and gathered her things. She still had her bag with her and slung it on her back, sticking the Colt in the waistband of her jeans and gripping Stella firmly in her hands.

She hadn't even noticed that Rick had reached for the radio once again.

"Hey, what's your name?" He asked.

" _Have you been listening? You're running out of time._ " The voice replied harshly.

"Right." Rick mumbled, turning to face Scarlett. She had already crawled up the ladder and had a hand on the latch, ready to leave whenever he was. Her friend gathered his wits, letting out a huff of air before giving her a quick nod.

Scarlett threw open the hatch and hoisted herself out of the tank, moving to the right side of the tank like the voice had told them too. Rick followed quickly behind her as she jumped off the side of the tank, swinging her bat into the head of the closest walker. The thing crumpled to the ground and they kept running. Rick was firing off his shots like a madman, not caring about the noise he was making. While they had already gathered the attention of the nearby walkers, they sure as hell weren't going unnoticed by them all now.

Continuously swinging her bat into the heads of the walkers that got a bit too close, Scarlett noticed that they were approaching the alley. Rounding the corner and ready to swing again, she came face to face with an Asian guy roughly her age, his panicked face and waving hands telling her not to attack him.

"Whoa! Not dead!" The guy yelled, ushering them to follow him down the alley. "Come on! Come on!"

Scarlett bolted, managing to keep up with the stranger. She continued to hear gunshots being fired and turned back to see Rick still firing into the crowd of walkers following them.

"Enough shooting! Get over here!" She screamed at him, grabbing his attention not just by the volume of her voice, but the tone. They were so close to getting out of this mess and she would not be losing him to something as stupid as him trying to be a hero. She could tell he understood that from the look in her eyes.

Scarlett followed the Asian up a shabby ladder that lead all the way up to a metal fire escape halfway up the building. Looking down, she watched as Rick just barely made it onto the ladder before the hoard of walkers replaced the pavement below like a wave.

Once on the fire escape, the three of them were a wheezing mess. Scarlett couldn't bring herself to look back down at the walkers below, fearing that a whole new wave of dread would wash over her.

"Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood," The stranger said, still breathing quite heavily. "You the new sheriff come riding in to clean up the town?"

"It wasn't our intention." Rick replied, looking over at Scarlett.

"Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw. You're still a dumbass," the Asian replied, as he too turned his attention to her. "At least she brought a bat with her and wasn't firing away at everything that moved."

"Does that mean I'm no longer a 'dumbass'?" Scarlett questioned, still trying to breathe normally.

"Yeah, you've been promoted to smartass."

"I can live with that."

In other circumstances, Scarlett would have laughed. Everything seemed so surreal.

"I'm Rick, and this is Scarlett," her friend introduced. "Thanks."

"Glenn," The guy replied. "You're welcome."

The feeling of the fire escape shaking had them all looking down at the hoard of walkers, watching as some of them were attempting to either climb or shake them off the side of the building. Scarlett didn't know which one it was, but neither of those options turned out good for them.

"Oh no." Glenn mumbled.

Their new friend turned his attention to the ladder that continued up the side of the building all the way up to the roof. The only downside was that there was no protective ring to keep them from falling to their doom.

"On the bright side," Glenn continued, looking at the both of them. "It'll be the fall that kills us."

"An optimist," Scarlett sighed, her breath shaky. "Good, we need one of those."

"I'm a glass half full kind of guy."

"Noted."

One by one they all carefully climbed up the rickety yellow ladder and managed to get to the top of the building without anyone falling into the hoard of walkers down below. They walked across a few of the roofs belonging to moderately high buildings, cautiously walking along the air vents that connected them. Crossing over one of the alleys, Scarlett noticed that a large bus had blocked it off. She was about to comment on it, but Rick beat her to it.

"You the one who barricaded the alley?"

"Somebody did," Glenn answered as the hopped over a pipe, onto the next building. "I guess when the city got overrun. Whoever did it was thinking that not many geeks would get through."

They jogged along the rooftop and approached a hatch, which Glenn quickly opened.

"Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for us?" Scarlett asked, eyeing him out of curiosity.

"Call it foolish, naïve hope that if I'm ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me," He replied, glancing at her quickly as he dropped his backpack down the hatch and began descending the ladder into darkness. However, he stopped and looked up at them. "Guess I'm an even bigger dumbass than you, Rick."

Disappearing down the hatch, Rick turned and gave Scarlett a look of mild bewilderment. Glenn had a point. Maybe they could have attacked him or gotten him killed, but he still went out of his way to help them. She gave Rick a halfhearted shrug before following Glenn down the hatch.

* * *

 _I don't know about you guys, but Glenn is one of my all-time favourite characters to date. I'm relieved to finally bring Glenn into the story, and more characters will be introduced in the next chapter :)_

 _See you all in the new year!_

 _All the best,_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


	6. Rooftop Troubles

_Hi!_

 _So...I'm back...only took a few wEEKS. I'm so sorry everyone, the holidays murdered me and things at home have been not that great. I'll try my best to upload as often as I can because I really enjoying writing this story and I love hearing your feedback. Hopefully you guys can forgive me T.T_

 _Anyways, happy 2017! New year, hopefully a better one._

 _A big thank you to Batmanfan22, BloodyLoved, CompulsiveReader86, RinWolf08, XXArmageddonXX, XxNimith531xX, devoncarman, imlovinfanfic, loveislove09, tcschic, FAIRY4LIFE, ShortyMcAwkward, elljayde, and mayasquared for following/favouriting the story! I'm so sorry to keep you all waiting like this, but the support truly means a lot to me. It makes me want to write even more and gives me that push to actual get down to business. So thank you all for taking a chance with the story :)_

 _As for a few comments,_

 _devoncarman: I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! To hear that you like Scarlett's personality is also wonderful, I'm happy to hear that. I do plan on making her quite close with Glenn and thankfully, the start of their oh so wonderful friendship begins in this chapter. Also in this chapter, she meets the older Dixion brother and haha...ha..ha. Though, I think she'll have more respect for the younger of the two when he comes into the picture ;)_

 _Georgetteb321: ahhh, this website can lack when it comes to notifications sometimes so its all good! It was my pleasure to dedicate the chapter to you, it was because of your comment that I actually opened up my laptop and continued to write! It was the least I could do. Honestly, I can never tell if my writing is actually decent or not, so thank you for saying that! The voice in the back of my head keeps going like 'you write like a 4 year old' and I know that deep down that isn't true but I can't help but smile when people complement me on my writing. So again thank you! Your praises are literally making me tear up omg you're too sweet. Your words are the best thing an anxious writer like me could hear. I hope to develop her character a bit more as the story progresses, and I already have plans for her backstory. I am honoured to have someone like you reading this story. Once again, I apologize for the super late update but I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!_

 _FAIRY4LIFE: I'm so happy that you're excited for a new chapter, so here you go my dear! :)_

 _Alright, I've gone on long enough. Hope you guys enjoy~_

* * *

Dropping down to the floor with Rick following her down into the darkness, Scarlett hoisted her bag higher up on shoulders and kept pace with Glenn, who was looking around nervously. Rick quickly joined them as they jogged through a few deserted rooms, pieces of the ceiling hanging above them along with some wires that made Scarlett a little nervous.

Exiting through the back door and going down a stairway, Glenn began talking into a radio, which Scarlett assumed was the same one he had used to communicate with her and Rick in the tank.

"I'm back. Got two guests. Four geeks in the alley."

They continued rushing down the metal staircase, only to come upon an alleyway. The four walkers Glenn had mentioned had spotted them almost immediately. The two men froze, but Scarlett pushed through without really thinking, her metal bat fastened into her hands.

Two people dressed in what looked like padded gear came rushing out from one of the doors across from them as Scarlett was already in mid swing. The bat destroyed the side of the walker's head as the two men dressed in black got to work on the others. She assumed that they were the people Glenn had been talking to, so she safely assumed she wouldn't be the one they'd be attacking.

"Let's go!" Glenn yelled as he and Rick sprinted into the open metal door the two men had exited from. She quickly followed after them, feeling something dripping down the side of her face and trying to ignore it.

The two men dressed in black padding quickly followed after her, slamming the door behind them. Scarlett barely had any time to gather her bearings before a blonde woman pushed Rick up against a crate, a gun pointed at his face.

"You son of a bitch. We ought to kill you." She stated firmly, her gun inches away from Rick's. Not even fully registering what was happening, Scarlett pulled out her own firearm and pointed it at the side of the woman's head.

"Put the gun down." Scarlett said calmly, no threatening tone found in her words.

"Just chill out Andrea. Back off." One of the men in black said, undressing from his protective gear. At least that's what Scarlett assumed it would be.

"Come on, ease up." A black woman said from beside the blonde named Andrea.

"Ease up? You're kidding me, right? We're dead because of these assholes." She replied, glaring daggers at both Rick and Scarlett.

"I'm going to assume you're referring to drawing the amount of attention that we did by entering the city," Scarlett began talking, still pointing her Colt at the blonde. "I get it, we're in trouble, but what good is killing him going to do? Nothing. We'll figure it out, okay? Just drop the gun."

Andrea's full attention was now on her, eyes narrowing. She knew Scarlett had a point. The man from before came forward and fixed his gaze on Andrea.

"Andrea, I said back the hell off," The man stated. "Well, pull the trigger then."

Scarlett narrowed her eyes and loaded her clip, the click echoing throughout the room. The blonde slowly let go of Rick and lowered her gun, looking around hopelessly. It was only then did Scarlett put her safety back on and tucked her gun back into her belt.

"We're dead," Andrea said, the trepidation evident in her voice. "All of us, because of you."

"I don't understand." Rick said slowly as Scarlett eyed the rest of the group.

"Look," The man from before said as grabbed a hold of Rick and began pulling him along with him. The rest of them followed. "We came into the city to scavenge supplies. You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving. You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the O.K. Corral. At least your friend had the decency to use a bat instead of firing off shots like you were."

They entered the first floor of what looked like a department store. Clothing hung on racks, jewelry could be found behind the cash, and even some of the 'SALE' signs were still in one piece. It was when Scarlett turned her attention to the front of the store, where the glass doors remained, did she see the crowd of walkers banging on the most exterior doors.

"Every geek from miles around heard you popping off rounds." The black man said, who was evidently one of the men in black from before.

"And you just rang the dinner bell." Andrea threw in.

It was a horrific sight, Scarlett didn't have a doubt in her mind about that. Multiple pairs of dirty and bloodstained hands banged profusely on the glass doors, the moans of the walkers appearing much more ferocious than the walkers she'd encountered before. This was what Morgan had been talking about. Scarlett had thought she'd seen what a hungry mob of walkers looked like, but she stood corrected.

"Those glass doors aren't going to hold forever." Scarlett mumbled, watching as some of the doors already had cracks in them. Adding more to her bewilderment, Scarlett and the rest of the survivors watched as one of the walkers had picked up a rock and had begun banging it against one of the doors. The glass was evidently breaking a lot easier and the group of them moved away from the door out of fear.

"The hell were you two doing out there anyway?" Andrea asked as Rick and Scarlett looked at one another before turning their attention to the blonde.

"Trying to flag the helicopter." Rick replied simply.

"Helicopter? Man that's crap. There ain't no damn helicopter." The black man stated, giving Rick a concerned look.

"You were chasing a hallucination, imagining things," the black woman said calmly. "It happens."

"But I heard it too," Scarlett replied. "How could we hallucinate the same thing? You have to admit that's a bit odd."

She didn't get an answer, though she wasn't exactly expecting one.

"Hey, T-Dog. Try that C.B," The other man in black inquired as the other attempted to play with the radio walkie. "Can you contact the others?"

"Others? The refugee centre?" Rick questioned, and Scarlett gave him a sad look.

"I highly doubt that's an option anymore, Rick." She said, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, the refugee centre," the black woman said sarcastically. "They've got biscuits waiting at the oven for us."

"Got no signal," T-Dog said after a moment. "Maybe the roof."

The sound of a gun firing cut off whatever possible conversation they were going to have. From the sounds of it, the bang had come from above the group. Most likely the roof that T-Dog had mentioned only a few moments before.

"Oh no. Is that Dixon?" Andrea groaned, a panic ringing through the group.

The survivors all rushed out of the front of the department store and up multiple flights of stairs. Scarlett had been ready to leave but realized that Rick was still staring absentmindedly through the front doors at the walkers trying to get in. She gave a quick tug on his arm and pulled him out of his trance.

"Come on, let's go." Glenn said nervously, which surprised Scarlett at the fact that he had stayed behind with them.

The trio caught up with the others as the climbed their way up through the building as shots continued to ring out above them. It was only after multiple flights of stairs did they reach the rooftop wheezing that they threw open the door to the roof.

"Hey, Dixon! Are you crazy?" Morales yelled as Scarlett's eyes fell on a man standing on the edge of the roof, a rifle tucked under his arm. The man had little hair on his head and a nasty look on his face, a laugh tumbling lazily from his lips at being yelled at.

Wearing a vest and jeans, the man turned around and looked at them all.

"Hey!" The man said happily, as if he had met some old friends. "Y'all out to be more polite to a man with a gun. Huh? Only common sense."

He jumped down from the edge of the roof and eyed the group carefully. It was only when his eyes landed on Scarlett did she struggle not to squirm.

"Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got!" T-Dog yelled, jumping down from the platform and in front of Dixon, who only laughed. "And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill!"

"Hey, it's bad enough I got this taco-bender on my ass all day," the man replied and Scarlett felt her stomach tumble over uncomfortably. "And now I'm going to take orders from you? I don't think so, bro. That'll be the day."

"'That'll be the day'?" T-Dog questioned, catching on to what the man was really trying to say and took a step forward. "You got something you wanna tell me?"

"Hey, T-Dog. Just leave it-" Morales attempted to stop him.

"No." He threw a hand up in the other's direction.

"It ain't worth it," Morales tried again. "Now, Merle, just relax, okay? We've got enough trouble."

Scarlett turned her attention away from the tension and eyed Glenn, who gave her a look that said 'whatever you do, don't intervene.' She looked over at Rick who looked just as upset as she felt.

"You wanna know the day?" Merle questioned.

"Yeah." T-Dog replied as the two of them squared up against each other.

"I'll tell you the day Mr. Yo. It's the day I take orders from a nigger."

It took every ounce of Scarlett's being not to have her mouth fall open in shock at his words.

"Mother-" T-Dog began, throwing a punch at Merle only for the man to hit him with the end of his gun, knocking him to the ground. He landed another punch on T-Dog before Rick attempted to stop the fight, only for Merle to punch him in the face as well. Scarlett watched as Rick fell to the ground, checking him to see if his nose was bleeding.

This was ridiculous. She could hear Merle making contact with T-Dog's face over and over again to the point where the man on the ground was whimpering. Everyone was yelling at Merle to stop, everyone too afraid to do anything. She understood a little too well why they weren't stepping in, but she wouldn't be able to be as cooperative.

Looking over her shoulder, Scarlett watched as Merle pulled a gun and pointed it at T-Dog, who was still under him.

"No, please don't." Andrea pleaded; watching in silent fear as to what Merle would do next.

Scarlett heard thunder rumbling in the distance as she saw Merle spit on T-Dog and rub it into his shirt.

"Yeah! All right!" Merle began as he stood up from his place on top of T-Dog, the end of his gun still pointing at the man on the ground. "We're going to have ourselves a little powwow, huh? Talk about who's in charge."

Everyone remained silent as Merle's back remained to Scarlett, who slowly stood up and waited for a moment. A particular moment when he thought he had all the power. She had to do it right if she wanted to get the upper hand.

"I vote me," Merle continued as the others pulled T-Dog away from him. "Anybody else? Huh? Democracy time, y'all. Show of hands, huh? All in favour? Come on, let's see 'em."

Watching slowly as everyone raised their hands, Scarlett quietly made her way over to where Merle stood. She was being very careful not to make any noise and nobody looked at her to give her position away.

"All in favour? Yeah, that's good." Merle said, watching as the hands rose before him. "Now that means I'm the boss, right? Yeah."

It was now or never and Scarlett knew it. Being directly behind Merle, Scarlett reached forward and grabbed ahold of his wrist, ushering the gun up to the sky. Knowing that he would be stronger than her, she brought her knee up to his groin where he let out groan. Doing it again in the ribs, she managed to pry the gun from his hands and point it in his direction.

She couldn't believe it had actually worked as she let out a few wheezes from her struggle.

As Merle coughed at the lack of air in his lungs, he looked up at Scarlett and gave her a crooked smile.

"Well, ain't you a feisty one. And to think I thought you were busy with the cop over there," he spoke to her, slowly getting up from the ground. "Hmm. I think I'm going to call you ginger bitch."

Scarlett remained silent as she watched him with narrowed eyes. Over Merle's shoulder, she could see that Rick was slowly getting up from his spot on the ground. She needed to buy a little more time.

"You won't pull the trigger, so why don't you hand over the gun?"

Narrowing her eyes even more, Scarlett turned to point the gun just off to his left and fired. The familiar kick in her hand was a lot harsher than what she remembered, knowing her hand would bruise afterwards but she didn't care for it at the moment. Everyone had jumped at the sound of the gun firing and even Merle had looked frightened for a millisecond.

"Ginger bitch, you continue to impress," Merle said, licking his lips as he looked up and down her body. "You don't talk much though, do ya?"

She felt her blood boiling under her skin and was trying to control the surge of anger that had exploded inside of her. Very rarely did she actually become legitimately angry, but she supposed this was one of the exceptions.

"Of all the things that are taking up space in that puny brain of yours and race is one of them?" Scarlett began speaking. "Open your eyes! The dead are up and walking around, that should be the number one thing on your mind rather than some injudicious values of skin colour! How dare you treat someone poorly by the darkness of their skin. It wasn't acceptable when things were normal so what makes you think it is now? All life is precious and I don't know who fucked up your logic to the point of nonsensical acts like this but holy shit. So many people are dead and you're fucking it up for all of us that are still trying to get by. We didn't get through the first few waves of this nightmare just to judge each other for something so incredibly imprudent. What matters now is surviving, so grow a pair and stop acting like a child!"

She hadn't meant to go off on a tangent, she really hadn't. It was the fact that Merle was willing to fight with someone over something as ridiculous as race at a time like this. People were dying, they were pretty much trapped, and there were fifty thousand other things to worry about.

Scarlett didn't endure the first twenty-six years of her life to end up on a roof during the zombie apocalypse fighting over race.

It was in that moment where Rick had rammed the end of the rifle into the side of Merle's head. Grabbing the man's wrist and chaining it to a pipe, Rick stared down viciously at Merle as he pressed him against the pipe.

"Who the hell are you, man?" Merle yelled.

"Officer friendly," Rick replied harshly as he grabbed his gun and reloaded it with a new round of ammo. "Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no 'niggers' anymore. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white-trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart."

"Screw you, man." Merle grumbled.

"I can see you make a habit of missing the point."

"Yeah? Well, screw you twice."

"Ought to be polite to a man with a gun," Scarlett taunted as Rick cocked the gun in his hand and pressed it against Merle's temple. "It's only common sense, right?"

"He wouldn't. He's a cop, ginger bitch." Merle stated.

"All I am anymore is a man trying to find his wife and son," Rick replied simply and to the point. "Anybody gets in the way of that is gonna lose. I'll give you a moment to think about that."

As Rick patted Merle down to check for any other weapons, Scarlett went over and knelt down beside T-Dog. Nobody said a thing to her.

"Are you okay?" Scarlett asked, a lot calmer than she was a few minutes ago.

"I'll be alright." He answered though his breath was a bit strained.

"You probably only have some bruising around the ribs and the eye," she explained. "Nothing to worry about."

Looking over her shoulder at Merle, Scarlett watched in displeasure as Rick pulled a roll of something from the man's jacket. Of course, why was she surprise?

"You got some on your nose there." Rick said, flicking the end of Merle's nose as he stood up.

"What are you gonna do? Arrest me?" Merle asked as everyone proceeded to watch as Rick threw Merle's drugs off the side of the building. "Hey, man! What are you doing, that's my stuff! If I get loose you better pray, man! You hear me, pig? You hear me?"

"I'm sure he does," Scarlett said, kicking at Merle's leg as she walked passed him. "Your voice carries."

Approaching Rick carefully as the sheriff looked down into the streets from the edge of the building, Scarlett carefully touched his shoulder.

"Let me take a look at you." She asked, not really as a question but more of a demand.

"Scarlett, I'm fine." He said, attempting to pull his face away from her hands but she managed to feel around his nose.

"I guess you are," she sighed, only for Rick to give her a look. "Hey! It's my job, what am I supposed to do?"

Before either of them could continue bickering, Morales slowly approached them and leaned against the edge overlooking the streets on the other side of Rick.

"You're not Atlanta P.D. are you?" He questioned after a moment as he looked at the both of them, much to Scarlett's surprise. "Where you from?"

"Up the road a ways." Rick replied simply.

"The both of you?"

"Yeah."

"Both cops?"

"No. Only me. Scarlett's a paramedic."

"Well that'll come in handy."

She let loose a soft laugh at the man's words.

"Well, Officer friendly and Medical badass, from up the road a ways, welcome to the big city."

Scarlett found it a bit ironic. She'd only visited Atlanta for her medical training a few times, but never to experience the city for what it was. Always wishing that she would be able to come back and enjoy it, she didn't exactly picture coming back to look like this.

"My God, it looks like Times Square down there." Andrea mumbled as they approached the group once again.

Scarlett went over and sat beside Glenn, feeling absolutely exhausted. It was only when she sat down did she realize that she shouldn't have. There was no way in hell she would be getting up anytime soon.

"Tired?" Glenn asked, noticing her faltering composure.

"Yep and I shouldn't have sat down."

"Not gonna get up now?"

"Never."

Glenn let out a weak laugh and even Scarlett felt her lips pull up into a small grin.

"How's that signal?" Morales questioned T-Dog, who was still playing around with the radio.

"Like Dixon's brain. Weak." He replied, only to get a flipped off by Merle.

"Keep trying."

"Why? There's nothing they can do," Andrea spoke up. "Not a damn thing."

"'They'?" Scarlett questioned, looking over at the blonde.

"We got some people outside the city is all," Morales informed both Rick and Scarlett. "There's no refugee center. That's a pipe dream."

"Then she's right," Rick spoke up, turning to the group. "We're on our own. It's up to us to find a way out."

"Good luck with that," Merle grumbled, the side of his face still red from where Rick hit him as he looked over at Andrea. "These streets ain't safe in this part of town from what I hear. Ain't that right, sugar tits? Hey, honeybunch, what say you get me out of these cuffs, we go off somewhere and bump some uglies? Gonna die anyway."

"I'd rather." Andrea replied.

"Then what about you, ginger bitch? You wanna go get nasty somewhere?"

"Drinking bleach would be a better option than that." Scarlett replied, not even bothering to look over at Merle.

"Figured as much."

"The streets ain't safe," Morales continued, giving Merle a dirty look. "Now that's an understatement."

"What about under the streets? The sewers?" Rick questioned.

"Oh man," Morales said, turning around away from the edge. "Hey, Glenn. Check the alley. You see any manhole covers?"

With his eyebrows somewhat knit together in confusion, Glenn still got up and jogged along the platform to peer over into the alleyway. After taking a moment to search, he came back shaking his head.

"No, must be all out on the streets where the geeks are."

"Maybe not," the other woman, Jacqui, spoke up. "Old building like this built in the '20s. Big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding in the subbasements."

"How do you know that?" Glenn questioned.

"It's my job. Was. I worked in the city zoning office."

Not bothering to waste another moment, the group of them, the exception being Merle since he was handcuffed to the roof, and T-Dog who was watching him, went down into the lowest part of the building. They approached a square-shaped hole in the cement with a ladder leading down into its depths.

The faint dripping of water could be heard as they all shined their flashlights down into the hole.

"This is it?" Morales asked, looking up at them. "You sure?"

"I really scoped this place out the other times I was here. It's the only thing in this building that goes down," Glenn informed them. "But I've never gone down it. Who'd want to, right?"

Proceeding to look up at the expectant faces that remained on everyone's faces, Glenn's expression fell.

"Oh. Great."

There was a pause.

"We'll be right behind you-" Andrea began saying but Glenn began shaking his head.

"No, you won't. Not you." Glenn expressed his discomfort.

"Why not me? Think I can't do it?"

"It wasn't…"

"Speak your mind." Rick said, attempting to clear the air.

"Look, until now I always came here by myself. In and out, grab a few things. No problem," Glenn began to explain. "The first time I bring a group and everything goes to hell. No offence."

Scarlett could understand where he was coming from with his logic, knowing that with the more people one would have with them, another possible casualty. While it was true that sticking together was the right thing to do, Glenn had a point.

"If you want me to go down this gnarly hole, fine. But only if we do it my way," he said firmly. "It's tight down there. If I run into something and have to get out quickly, I don't want you all jammed up behind me and getting me killed. I'll take one person."

Rick moved forward to volunteer but Glenn stopped him.

"Not you either," he explain. "You've got Merle's gun and I've seen you shoot. I'd feel better if you were out in that store watching those doors, covering our ass. Andrea, you've got the only other gun so you should go with him. Morales and Jacqui, you guys be on the lookout. If anything happens, yell down to me and get us back up here in a hurry."

Scarlett realized why Glenn had left her out of the 'people with guns' group, because she was, in fact, the one who would be going down there with him.

"I'll admit, I'm a little surprised." She said out loud as Glenn looked at her nervously.

"Look, you're fast. You kept up with me when we were running through the streets. Plus, you've got a bat and a gun on you," Glenn explained and Scarlett nodded, his logic making sense. "You in?"

"Yeah, sure." She replied, not failing to notice the worried hint in Rick's eyes.

"Okay, everyone knows their jobs," Rick said as he placed his hands on both Glenn and Scarlett's shoulders. "Be careful, you two."

They both nodded and Glenn descended down the ladder first, Scarlett trying her best to hide her nerves. It would be the first time since Scarlett and Rick had reunited that they had separated, even if they were still in contact. It felt odd to her, but she quickly swallowed the lump in her throat and climbed down into the darkness as well. If she trusted anyone else in this group, it was Glenn. He had saved both her and Rick's life, so she would do her part to protect his.

Once at the bottom, Scarlett gaze upwards to give Rick a final look before bringing her attention to Glenn. The Asian looked a bit nervous, his eyes looking around in the darkness that led down the tunnel. Pipes lined the walls and water droplets could be heard echoing around them.

"Let's get this over with." Glenn stated as Scarlett turned on her flashlight.

"Couldn't agree more."

For the first while, neither of them spoke. Scarlett was too busy looking around at the claustrophobic walls and spotting the occasional squeak of a mouse. She was surprised to hear any sort of life coming from the tunnels, but she took that as a good sign. Maybe there really was a way out through the sewers.

"You handled yourself well against Merle up on the roof." Glenn spoke up, his face scrunched up in disgust as he tried to avoid stepping on any of the rats.

"He was being a bigoted asshole." Scarlett replied simply.

"Yeah, I don't think anyone disagrees with you on that one," he replied, his flashlight darting up to the low-hanging ceiling. The two watched as water dripped from it. "It was just surprising."

"How so?"

"Well, from the hour that we've known each other, I can tell you don't put up with much bullshit, but you seem more like the person to be quietly angry and not lash out at people."

Scarlett took a moment to consider his words. He wasn't wrong, but he wasn't exactly right either.

"What did you do before all this?" Scarlett questioned him, watching his expression morph into that of mild confusion.

"Uh. Random, but I'm assuming there's a reason for you asking me this," Glenn mumbled more to himself than to her. "I was a pizza delivery boy."

"That's why you're so fast?"

"I guess. You don't look like the type to deliver pizzas yourself, so what's your excuse for being speedy?"

"Well, I was a paramedic," Scarlett explained. "And when you work on the field or in the hospital, you got to put up with a lot of bullshit. The reason why I did was because I was focused on saving someone's life. There was logic behind why I dealt with it. However, when there's no logic behind something…"

"You can't help but stand up to the bullshit." Glenn finished for her and she gave him a nod.

"Sharp as a knife," Scarlett laughed, giving him a grin. "Good, you can make up for the dull-witted spoon that is Merle Dixon."

Despite their surroundings, the two couldn't help but laugh. It was odd. They were trapped in a building with no way out, and currently walking through the building's underground to get to the sewers but the laughs that came out of their mouths were genuine, if not slightly touched by fatigue. Scarlett barely knew Glenn, but she could already tell they were going to get along just fine.

Finally calming down and regaining their composure, the two continued to walk through the tunnel. After a few more meters, Glenn's flashlight passed over a rickety looking door at the end. Approaching it slowly, Scarlett gave him a soft nod before he kicked it open.

Peering inside, it looked like the only thing in there was a large metal grate that led further out into the streets. That must have been the sewer tunnel that went out under the city. If only it weren't barred up.

"I guess Jacqui was right." Scarlett said as they approached the grate.

"Can we cut through it?" Glenn asked, eyes looking at the metal bars.

"If we had more time, definitely. Otherwise, no. You don't have anything better than those hacksaws, do you?"

"Nope." Glenn replied, annoyance and stress written all over his face.

Letting out a sigh, Scarlett was about to turn away when she heard shuffling beyond the grated sewer. Both Glenn and hers flashlights shot down from the bars above and fixed their lights out in front of them. Standing on the other side of the metal bars and eating away at what looked like the remains of a rat, a walker turned its gaze to them. In the blink of an eye, it reached out and tried to grab at them, but both of them managed to get out of reach. Moans and groans of annoyance and want rumbled from the walker's bloodied mouth.

"We should get back to the others." Scarlett mumbled, trying to hide her panic.

"Damn it." Glenn grumbled as the two slipped out of the room and sprinted down the tunnel from which they came from.

Out of breath and starting to feel the dread sink in, Scarlett reached the top of the ladder with Glenn right behind her. Both Morales and Jacqui were waiting at the top, anxiously waiting for an answer. With a quick shake of her head, Scarlett watched as the two of them sighed.

A loud crashing sounded from the front room of the building where the department store was, including the rest of the group. Including Rick.

The four of them rushed into the other room, only to find both Rick and Andrea pointing their guns at the glass doors of the entrance. It appeared as though the walkers had broken through the first set of glass doors and were now attempting to break through the other set. In other words, their last defense.

"What did you find down there?" Rick asked, his eyes immediately meeting with Scarlett's.

"Not a way out." She replied, her hand placed firmly on her own gun.

"We need to find a way and soon." Andrea stated.

The group all stared at the thin layer of glass that separated them from the wave of walkers that were ready at any point in time to eat away at their flesh. The impending doom was making itself known in the air around the group and Scarlett couldn't stand it. Hell, she wasn't much of an optimist, that was Glenn's job, but she knew they would find a way out. They didn't have any other option but to think that way and time was much shorter than they had expected, leaving a very conflicted red-head standing amongst as group that were strangers only a few hours ago.

* * *

 _Chapter done~_

 _Man, I really wish they could have portrayed Andrea like she was in the comics when it came to the show. Oh well, whatever._ _More canon characters are always fun, right? Fucking love Glenn. God bless him, honestly._

 _Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed! It was fun writing this chapter, if not a bit agonizing when it came to finishing it and getting it out. Again, I apologize for taking such a long time to update. I hope you all understand._

 _Hopefully I'll update soon with another chapter._

 _Take care everyone,_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


	7. Show Me Your Guts

_Hello again!_

 _These past few days have been devoted only to writing, and thankfully my main focus has been on this fic. Compared to my HP fic that I've been working on, I feel as though I've kind of been neglecting this one a bit. For some reason, my attention has been completely captivated with the plot of this story and I wrote on it for a solid five hours. in other words, I managed to pump out this chapter and another for a future update. :)_

 _A big thank you to hrodenhaver for favouriting the story! I appreciate the support._

 _As for comments,_

 _FAIRY4LIFE: my apologies for the cliffhanger but here you go! :D_

 _Thank you guys for your support and feedback on this story! I hope this chapter holds up to your expectations._

 _Enjoy~_

* * *

The uneasiness that Scarlett had been so desperately trying to fight off was slowly sinking into her skin. The group had made their way up to the roof, putting as much distance between the herd of walkers and themselves as possible. They needed a plan, and they needed it now.

She was leaning over the edge of the building beside Rick, whose eyes were peering through a pair of binoculars that Glenn had brought with him. Scarlett's own eyes gazed down at the street below, staring at the undead figures as they slowly shambled along the road and sidewalks aimlessly. A good majority of them were probably making their way towards the herd that was pounding at the building's front doors.

"That construction sight," Rick spoke up finally, handing the binoculars over to Morales. "Those trucks, they always keep keys on hand."

Taking a quick look through the binoculars as well, Morales let out a sigh.

"You'll never make it past the walkers." He declared.

"You got us out of that tank." Rick replied, bringing his attention to Glenn.

"Yeah, but they were feeding. They were distracted." He stated, giving Scarlett a sad look.

"Can we distract them again?"

"Right. Listen to him," Merle spoke for the first time in a while, much to Scarlett's and everyone else's discontent. "He's on to something. A diversion, like on 'Hogan's Heroes'."

"God, give it a rest." Jacqui demanded, looking absolutely tired of the man's shit.

"They're drawn by sound, right?" Rick said, bringing everyone back to the topic at hand.

"Right, like dogs. They hear sound, they come."

"What else?" Rick continued to push, but his attention this time was directed at Scarlett.

She quickly closed her eyes and began to think. Sound was obvious, hence the situation they were in. Sight was another, but clearly not as vital as sound. Touch and taste were second hand senses, once they had something to eat.

There was only one other sense that she could think of.

"Smell," she stated. "We must smell different than they do. I mean, they smell dead and we don't. So…"

"So?"

Scarlett had an absolutely horrible idea, but it was the only idea she had.

"Do you think those walkers you took out in the alleyway are still there?" She questioned, eyeing both Morales and T-Dog.

"Probably, why?"

"We're gonna need them."

In a bit of a trance, Scarlett stood up and sprinted over to door, throwing it open without looking behind her to see if anyone was following her. The sound of multiple footsteps hitting the metal stairs behind her quickly answered her question, pushing open the door at the bottom and running into the department store.

"What is going on?" Andrea asked, slightly out of breath as the entered in behind her.

"Grab a few pairs of gloves and a few of those white coats," Scarlett replied, looking around at anything else they'd need. "Maybe some duck tape too, not sure if we'll need it but it's better to have it just in case."

"Scarlett, please tell us what you're thinking!" Glenn whined, nervously eyeing her.

"Smell has to be their strongest sense other than sound," she explained, finding some gloves and tossing them to Rick. "We get rid of the smell and…"

"We become invisible to them." Rick mumbled, everyone clueing in on what the redhead was getting at.

"So you want to do what?" Jacqui questioned, not liking the idea one bit. Realistically, nobody looked like they were happy with the plan.

"If bad idea's were an Olympic event, this would take the gold." Glenn mumbled as Rick shoved a pair of gloves into his hands, obviously on board with Scarlett's plan.

"He's right, just stop," Morales spoke up, looking between both Scarlett and Rick. "Okay? Take some time to think this through."

"How much time?" Rick questioned, grabbing some of the white coats just off to his right. "They already got through one set of doors, that glass won't hold forever."

As soon as Rick tossed both Glenn and Scarlett a white coat, the redhead began making her way towards the small storage room in which they had entered the building earlier.

Dressed in one of the long white coats and rubber gloves covering her hands, she looked back at the others with a determined gaze.

"I think one body will be enough," Scarlett concluded, placing her hand on the door as Rick and Morales prepared to go outside. "Okay, go."

Throwing open the door and watching as the two men made their way over to one of the dead walkers, Scarlett fixed her gaze nervously at the end of the alley, where two other walkers remained roaming around. It didn't take the two men much time to drag the body inside thankfully and as soon as they were in, she slammed the door closed.

The dead walker was dropped to the floor and the group let out some nervous breaths. Scarlett glanced over at Rick, who had attached a face guard to his head. Taking the crowbar and smashing it through the glass box beside him, Rick took the red axe from its case and approached the body.

Holding up a hand to Rick, Scarlett kneeled down beside the body and reached into the walker's pocket. Thankfully, her gloved hands fished out a wallet and she eyed the group closely before opening it. All clothed in long white coats and rubber gloves just like her, Scarlett glanced down at the wallet as Rick squatted down beside her.

"Wayne Dunlap," she stated, reading over his ID. "Georgia license. Born in 1979."

Scarlett passed the ID over to Rick, who passed it to Morales so everyone could have a look. Already feeling a bit of a lump in her throat, Scarlett gave Rick the wallet. Her idea had sounded like the best they had, but now she was having doubts. She hadn't even worried about having to cut into a walker, forgetting that it was originally a human like they were. The fact that she had overlooked something so fundamental made her stomach overturn in self-loathing.

"He had 28 dollars in his pocket when he died," Rick continued, observing the wallet closer. "And a picture of a pretty girl. ' _With love, from Rachel_ '."

"He used to be like us," Scarlett mumbled half-heartedly, unable to meet the eyes of everyone around her. "Worrying about bills or the rent or the next sports game. I apologize for not seeing the horrendous nature of this plan when I thought of it. Not just to all of you, but to Wayne."

Feeling Rick's hand on her back, Scarlett shot the man a look. He was gazing at her kindly, obviously bothered by the situation they were in but was nonetheless showing her the same sympathy he had been giving her for years. He knew she had a few dark things lurking in the corners of her mind, but he never judged her for it. Scarlett's lips softly trembled as she gave him tense smile.

"It's a plan, and if it works, you will have saved our lives," Rick began. "If it doesn't, at least we gave it a shot. When and if I find my family, I'm going to tell them about Wayne and how we got out of here because of you."

Pulling Scarlett up with him, Rick grabbed his mask and picked up the axe from the floor. A sigh escaped her lips as pulled at the gloves on her hands.

"It was my plan, I'll deal with the guts." Scarlett stated, regaining her composure.

"We'll still help." Andrea replied.

"It's going to be bad."

"What, you've chopped up a body before?"

"No, but I've seen my fair share of insides on duty."

"I doubt it'll be like this."

Scarlett shrugged slightly. She wondered if she would vomit at the sight, but prayed that she wouldn't. She didn't have much in stomach to lose.

"One more thing," Glenn spoke up, eyeing everyone with the ID still in his gloved hands. "He's an organ donor."

It was ironic, to say the least.

"Well, at least its consensual." Scarlett mumbled.

A pause followed, and she was sure that the piece of information that Glenn shared had eased some nerves amongst the others. Before she could even speak up once again, Rick was already swinging his axe into the dead walker's body.

"Oh God!"

Rick had driven the axe into the rib cage and was already taking another swing, except this time he hit the lower leg. Everyone was groaning and holding their breath, but all Scarlett could focus on was Rick's swings.

"Aim for the stomach, Rick." She called to him.

Thankfully, he obliged. His next few swings managed to tear open the walker's stomach and its organs began spilling from the opening.

Rick had paused, obviously fighting back the urge to vomit, just like everyone else in the room. Wiping away at the sweat on her forehead, Scarlett couldn't help but stare down at the body.

"Keep chopping." Rick stated, passing the axe and his headgear over to Morales, who quickly took over.

After a few more swings, Scarlett had to look away. Her stomach was starting to convulse unpleasantly and her throat was beginning to close up from suppressing a gag.

"Oh, I am so gonna hurl." Glenn groaned, bent in half and breathing hard.

"Not on the body, please." Scarlett replied, to which he glared at her.

"Later." Was Rick's only response as Morales continued chopping into the body.

Out of breath and looking pale, Morales finally stopped before looking over at Scarlett and Rick.

"That should be enough." She muttered, slowly kneeling beside the body and hesitantly peering inside it's stomach.

"Everybody got gloves?" Rick questioned. "Don't get any on your skin or in your eyes."

"Skin should be fine. I think as long as it doesn't enter into your system through any openings or cuts." Scarlett spoke up, slowly sticking a hand into guts with a disgusting squish.

Everyone kneeled down and began reaching into the stomach, groans of repulsion leaving everyone's mouth, especially Glenn's. The three that would be going out into the herd would be Rick, Scarlett and Glenn. Gazing down at pile of insides that remained in her hands, Scarlett hesitantly rubbed it over the chest section of her long white coat. The others got to helping Glenn and Rick cover themselves with the walker's insides. Jacqui had thankfully helped Scarlett with her own gut body painting.

Finishing faster than the other two, Scarlett had given Jacqui a quick thank you as she heard Glenn's groans get louder. She could only watch as a string of intestines were hung around his neck.

"This is bad. This is really bad." Glenn moaned, eyes shut tight in order to concentrate on not throwing up.

"Just think about something else," Rick spoke up, face pale. "Puppies and kittens."

"Dead puppies and kittens." T-Dog threw in, which appeared to be the last straw for Glenn, because he quickly bent over to the side and hurled.

"That is just evil, what is wrong with you?" Andrea questioned, looking at T-Dog in bewilderment as she rubbed Glenn's back.

"Next time let the cracker beat his ass." Jacqui said, eyeing both Rick and Scarlett.

"I'm sorry, yo." T-Dog apologized to Glenn, who was still hunched over and breathing hard.

"You suck." Glenn replied simply.

Figuring that was as much as Glenn was going to reply with, Scarlett looked down at her own body. Every surface of her long white jacket was now covered in dark, chunky red insides. She was pretty sure that she had grabbed one of the walker's kidneys, which was now in bits and smeared along her left sleeve.

"Do we smell like them?" Scarlett asked after a moment.

"Oh yeah," Andrea replied right away before looking over at the form beside her. "Glenn, take this. Just in case."

Much to Scarlett's surprise, Andrea held out her gun to Glenn. It wasn't like she considered the blonde to be a bad person, but Scarlett knew she wasn't on the best terms with her. Seeing her do something kind was something the redhead had not seen as of yet, so it surprised her.

"While the three of us venture out, the rest of you wait by the loading dock and be ready," Scarlett explained. "We'll bang on the door when we've got the truck."

"What about Merle Dixon?" T-Dog asked, the unpleasant tone in his voice evident.

Reaching into the front pocket of his jeans, Rick fished out the small set of keys he had used to handcuff Merle to the roof. He quickly tossed them over to T-Dog and the man left.

When everyone knew what to do, the three of them that were covered in guts approached the door that lead out into the alley. Holding Stella lazily in her hand and with her gun tucked into the waistband of her jeans, Scarlett was as ready as she would ever be.

"Let's go." Rick muttered and the three of them stepped out into the alleyway.

Thankfully there were only a few walkers in the alley, so they could test if the plan would really look before walking into a herd of the undead. The three of them gazed at one another anxiously before they began shambling down the alley like the dead that were waiting for them.

Scarlett held her breath as they approached the first two walkers. The grip on her bat tightened as the walkers observed the three of them. They didn't make any movements to attack them and once they passed the first few undead, Scarlett knew that her plan had worked.

She didn't have any time to celebrate, because as soon as they left the alley by crawling under the bus and out into the street was when the real challenge began. Dozens of walkers roamed the streets and their moans made Scarlett's skin crawl. It was almost like a broken record was playing the same eerie sound, but multiplied by a hundred. The three of them stuck close to one another, occasionally sharing a worried glance. The plan had worked so far, but Scarlett couldn't help but wonder when something would go wrong.

As they continued down the streets at an unbearably slow pace, the crowd of walkers only seemed to get thicker. There were a few times when the occasional walker would get a bit too close, but it would turn away as soon as its interest had been grabbed.

"It's gonna…work," Glenn mumbled through clenched teeth. "I…can't believe it."

"Don't…draw attention." Rick muttered back.

Before Scarlett could scold either of them, she saw a walker slowly draw closer to Glenn. The panic was obvious in his eyes as the walker let loose a few curious groans, to which Glenn replied with some very fake sounding moans of his own. Much to everyone's surprise, it worked and the walker shuffled away.

Scarlett gave Glenn a look that could be interpreted as "s _hut the hell up_ ", which he thankfully did.

It was only then that Scarlett began to register the loud rumbling of thunder above them. Much louder and closer than it had been before, her eyes quickly glanced up at the sky to see that the clouds had darkened into a deep grey. If it rained and washed away the guts from their clothes, they would be in serious trouble.

It was almost as if Mother Nature herself had read her mind, for Scarlett felt the first few drops of rain hitting the ginger strands on her head. Slowly turning her head in the direction of Glenn and Rick, she gave them a panicked look.

"Faster." She whispered.

As they continued shuffling a bit faster, within minutes the guts had began to wash away from their coats. With the way the rain was beginning to fall, their scent would soon leak through and their cover would be blown.

And they were almost at the fence to the construction sight as well.

Looking around, the walkers had already started switching their attention to them in what appeared to be curiosity or confusion.

"The smells washing off. Isn't it?" Glenn muttered, looking between Rick and Scarlett nervously. "Is it washing off?"

"No it's not." Rick replied.

"It is," Scarlett countered. "Just stay calm, we're almost there. We just need to keep our cover a bit longer."

The growl of a walker came from behind them and she knew their cover was blown. Rick turned and drove the axe into the walker's head. Every walker in their vicinity knew the truth and they needed to make a break for it.

"Run!" Scarlett yelled, swinging the end of the metal bat into the head of the walker in front of her.

The three of them began sprinting, growls and groans following behind them at an alarmingly close rate. Glenn with his crowbar, Rick with his axe, and Scarlett with Stella, they were all swinging away at the few walkers that blocked their path. Once they reached the metal gate, they all chucked their weapons over the top and began climbing. Just barely missing getting dragged back into the herd, they all landed on the other side, where they stripped themselves of their gloves and coats.

"Come on!" Glenn shouted as Scarlett picked up Stella and began racing towards one of the trucks.

It was only when she heard gunfire that she turned to spot Rick firing at the walkers that were attempting to climb over the fence. Glenn, on the other hand, broke open the green box holding the keys to the trucks open.

"Rick!" He yelled, tossing them to sheriff.

The three approached the truck and both men got inside the front. Scarlett heard an approaching walker and turned, swinging her bat and taking a chunk out of the walker's head.

"Scarlett, let's go!" She heard Rick calling, to which she sprinted over to the truck, threw open the passenger side door and crawled inside. Evidently, right on top of Glenn.

"Ow! Ow! Watch it!" Glenn yelled, as Scarlett was pretty much sitting on him.

"Rick, drive!" She cried, and thankfully he started up the truck.

Driving backwards, Scarlett watched as the metal fence gave way and the rush of walkers broke through. The truck reversed through another metal fence before coming to a halt and turning down another road.

It was only on the highway that Scarlett managed to get off of Glenn and crouch between the two seats.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! They're all over that place!" Glenn cried, looking at Rick and Scarlett in a panic.

"You need to draw them away," Rick replied. "Those roll-up doors near the front of the store. That area? That's what I need cleared."

"But-"

"Raise your friends," Rick cut him off. "Tell them to get down there and be ready."

"And I'm driving the geeks away how? I-I missed that part." Glenn stammered, looking at the two of them nervously with the radio in his hands.

"Noise." Scarlett answered for Rick.

Coming to a halt on one of the side streets, the three of them came across a red car. They jumped out, Rick with Glenn's crowbar in hand. When they approached the vehicle, Rick drove the end of it through the front window and a loud, annoying alarm began ringing through the streets.

"Oh God." Scarlett muttered, covering her ears as she watched Rick unlock the driver side door.

"Your picking would come in handy right about now," Rick stated, looking over at Scarlett. She only gave him a confused look. "Oh, come on. I know you pick locks. It's not a secret."

"Victoria told you, didn't she?" Scarlett questioned, surprised and mildly offended. "Plus, this is a car! I've never-"

"Just, do your thing, please?"

With a huff, she crawled into the front seat of the car. Asking for and requiring a screwdriver from Rick, Scarlett got to work on the car. It wasn't as difficult as she had thought. She'd never hot-wired a car or anything like that. She only did small things. Cabinets, doors, things like that. Never something as big as a damn car.

But somehow, she managed to get it to start.

"You're gonna go with Glenn, okay?" Rick said to her as she got out of the front seat.

"Why? Won't you need my help?" She asked, a little worried.

"You need to cover him. Walkers are gonna be coming after him, so don't be afraid to fire away if you need to."

"But Rick-"

"Trust me okay? I've got to go back for the others."

She hated it and she hated him for coming to this conclusion. As much as she could understand where he was coming from, she didn't like not being by his side. However, they didn't have the time to argue over it, so a frustrated sigh left her lips instead.

"You better come back in one piece, Rick Grimes." She said, pointing a finger at him before jogging over to the passenger side of the car and getting in beside Glenn.

Before she could even get her seatbelt on, Glenn hit the gas and they sped off in the direction of the department store. His sharp turns and speed were making her nervous, her eyes flying wide open in nervousness.

"I know it's a nice car and all, but-"

"Yes, I need to go this fast." Glenn cut her off and she looked over at him. Even though they were in a bad situation, she could tell he loved the feeling of being behind the wheel.

She let out a scoff and he looked over at her, nervousness in his eyes as he scowled at her.

"You'd do the same, don't even pretend you wouldn't." He countered, turning a sharp corner. Scarlett raised her hands in defeat, as they got closer to their destination.

Grabbing a tighter hold of the radio in his grasp, Glenn spoke into it quickly.

"Those role-up doors at the front of the store facing the street. Meet us there and be ready."

Passing the radio over the Scarlett, she placed it in her lap before turning her attention to her Colt. Counting the number of bullets she had, she knew she could spare a few if she really needed to.

Rounding another corner, they came across Rick's truck and quickly passed him. Scarlett didn't bother shooting a gaze to him through the window, too focused on slowing her heartbeat and recalling all the times Shane and Rick had taken her shooting. She only hoped the practice would help her now.

They drove for a few more blocks before coming across the one where the department store was.

"There!" Scarlett said, as Glenn almost drove past the turn. Quickly reversing and turning to face the street, all they could see were walkers. Scarlett looked through the back window to see that they were, in fact, gaining the attention of almost every walker in earshot.

Many of them approached the car and began banging on the front dash as Glenn quickly reversed down the street. Loading her gun and eyeing Glenn's open window, Scarlett kept an eye out to see if any walkers got too close.

"Come on, come on!" Glenn shouted, looking behind them as he continued to reverse.

They had a whole herd of walkers following them now and they were most certainly getting way too close. It made Scarlett's throat tighten out of nervousness and she just barely was able to voice her thoughts.

"I think that's most of them!" She said to Glenn, who nodded and quickly hit the gas.

The red car shot backwards at an even faster speed, gaining some distance between them and the walkers. Hitting the brakes and turning the steering wheel, the car skidded and turned so that they could drive normally once again. It was almost like something out of a movie, and Scarlett was thoroughly impressed.

Looking behind them, Scarlett watched as the walkers followed them around the corner and away from the department store.

"Now that is what I'm talking about!" Scarlett yelled, grinning like an idiot at Glenn, who looked just as relieved and surprised as she felt.

The two drove through the streets for a while, the herd of walkers still following them but were slowly fading into the distance. They managed to get onto the highway in which Scarlett and Rick had entered the city, the car flying down the highway at ungodly speeds that made her heart beat rapidly.

"Yeah!" Glenn yelled in celebration, pounding his hands on the wheel.

All Scarlett could do was laugh as he held out his hand for a high-five, which she gladly returned. It had been years since she had laughed that hard, and it made her heart soar with adrenaline and overall content. Glenn's childishness only added to it as he laughed and let loose some more celebratory yells with her.

After a few miles, Scarlett spotted Rick's truck off in the distance and relief washed over her aching bones.

"They made it!" Glenn grinned as he hit the gas, the distance between the truck and their car diminishing quickly.

As they got closer, Glenn quickly switched lanes to pass them. Rolling down her window, she stuck her head out to gaze up at the window of the driver seat. With Glenn letting loose more happy yells, Scarlett caught Rick's eye as they passed the truck, sticking a hand out to give him a thumbs up. When he returned it, she was relieved, but she swore she saw a bit of distress in his eyes.

"I might try and stop the alarm," Scarlett said after rolling up her window and watching the white truck grow smaller behind them. "Wish me luck."

"Just don't unplug anything we need." Glenn replied wearily.

"Can't make any promises."

"What? Have you ever done this before?!"

"No," she stated, opening up one of the compartments and finding a bound set of papers, which she assumed was the manual for the car. "But on the bright side, if the car breaks down, we got Rick and the other's behind us."

Glenn let out a sigh and continued driving as Scarlett flipped through the pages of the manual to try and find the fuse box. She didn't know very much about cars, what little she knew came from her father, believe it or not. Before everything went to hell with her family, she used to sit in the garage and watch him mess around with his prized car, which he took when he left. She liked the car, but was glad that he had taken it. She didn't want anything near her that reminded her of him.

After scanning through the manual, Scarlett spotted something on the fuse box, which was found on the passenger side of the car. Looking down in front of her, she spotted what she could only assume to be the box. Without much of a thought, Scarlett placed the manual down and ripped the plate covering the box away from the car.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Glenn questioned, looking a bit annoyed.

"Trying to figure that out as we speak." She replied, staring at all the little coloured fuses that remained in the box.

"Great, wonderful." He replied, bringing his attention back to the road ahead of them.

With the angle she was sitting at, Scarlett knew she wouldn't be able to do much with the fuses. Knowing it wasn't exactly safe, she undid her seatbelt, and moved the seat back as far as it would go before placing herself on the floor of the car. Scarlett grabbed the manual once again and began reading through the instructions regarding the fuse box.

After digging around in the car for a pair of pliers that was required to removed the fuses, all Scarlett came across was a pair of tweezers. She was lucky to find anything, let alone tweezers, so they would have to do the job. Nose deep in the manual to try and figure out which fuse controlled the alarm in the car, Scarlett didn't really know where they were in terms of surroundings. She only looked up at Glenn when sharp turns of the car grabbed her attention.

"We're almost there." Glenn replied without looking down at her.

"How many people are at your camp?" Scarlett questioned, looking down at the manual again while trying to keep herself from flying into the door due to the turns Glenn was making.

"About a dozen."

Nodding to herself, Scarlett concluded that was a decent amount of people. Maybe they had food, water, and other supplies to keep them going for a while. She could only hope.

A few more minutes of reading were completed and all Scarlett could do was come to the conclusion that it was either one of two fuses. With the pair of tweezers in between her fingers, she finally gathered up the courage to pull out the fuse. The alarm was still going off, even though she had one of the fuses in her grasp. A sigh slipped from her lips and she felt the car slow down before rolling to a stop. She didn't move as Glenn got out of the car, anxiety flooding her system at the idea of meeting new people. She was never good at meeting others, and while she'd gotten along with everyone at the department store, this was a different situation. They had been trapped there and forced to work together, but this was a voluntary meeting.

"Holy crap, turn that damn thing off!" She heard a man's voice shout down to Glenn as she put the fuse back in the box. On to the next one.

"I don't know how!" Glenn yelled back.

"Pop the hood, please." Another voice asked.

"My sister, Andrea. Is she okay?" A different voice asked, a female one this time.

Overwhelmed with the amount of conversations that were going on at once, Scarlett pulled the other fuse from the box. Much to her content, the alarm finally shut off.

"Oh, thank god!" She cried, leaning back against the seat, her ears getting a chance to relax for the first time since they left the city.

"Hey, you got it!" Glenn yelled happily, looking into the car. "About time. Come on out and meet everyone."

"What do you mean ' _about time_ '? Who was the one complaining about me breaking the car on the way here?" She grumbled, throwing the fuse at Glenn, who flinched away from her, before getting out of the car herself.

"Ah, sorry. Bad choice of words." He laughed, obviously happy to not have to listen to that godforsaken alarm anymore as well.

As she got out of the car, Scarlett couldn't help but breathe in the fresh air. They were up in the mountains outside the city, trees green and air as clean as it could be. They had chosen a great spot to set up camp. Not just because of the beautiful scenery, but because they were just on the outskirts of Atlanta, where the majority of the walkers would be in the city rather than outside.

About to state just how smart they were, she was cut off by a familiar voice.

"Holloway?"

It was odd, for someone to use her last name. There was only one person who referred to her that way, which caused her heart to stop mid-beat. Turning her gaze towards the person standing at the hood of the car, Scarlett couldn't help but feel her eyes widen and her jaw go slack.

"Holy shit." She mumbled as she ran forward to give Shane Walsh a hug.

She'd never even considered it, finding him with the other half the group had spoken about. It was almost a miracle, a one in a million chance. How he managed to survive, she didn't know, but it was only when she remembered who he had left with that she pulled away to look at him.

"Are Lori and Carl with you?" Scarlett questioned, her eyes wide as she stared at Shane.

"Yeah, yeah they are," Shane said, his hands firmly placed on her shoulders. "Did Victoria…?"

"No," she answered, but gave him a smile. "But I found-"

"Scarlett!"

Looking over Shane's shoulder, she spotted both Lori and Carl jogging over to them. Scarlett met her half way and gave the woman a hug.

"I can't believe you made it." She whispered, crushing the redhead in her tight embrace.

"I'm so glad you guys are okay," Scarlett replied as she stepped away, bringing her attention to Carl. "And you! I'm so glad you're safe too!"

Carl gave her a wide grin and Scarlett couldn't help but pick the young boy up in her arms and spin him around, to which he let out a soft squeal.

"How did you get into the city?" Shane questioned as she placed Carl back on the ground.

"Road on horseback, got saved by Glenn," she replied, nodding at her friend with a smile. "But listen, I wasn't alone."

"What do you mean? I thought Victoria…?" Lori began, only for her words to drift off as the white truck came into view and pulled up behind their red car.

"I wasn't talking about Victoria." She smiled, watching as a few of the people ran out to great the others coming out of the truck. It made her heart swell.

An older man with a fishing hat and a rifle had caught Scarlett's attention, his white haired beard stretching as he smiled at Morales, who was approaching from the truck.

"Well aren't you a welcomed sight," The older man said as Morales gave him a large hug, the two of them laughing softly. "I'd thought we'd lost you folks for sure."

What warmed Scarlett's heart even more was the sight of Morales with his wife and daughter. While there hadn't been much time for talking about families, it was nice to see everyone reuniting. Andrea had been embraced by what looked like a younger version of herself, most likely her sister. Everyone was content, and that's when she realized she didn't see Merle.

"How'd y'all get out of there anyway?" Shane questioned, looking over at Glenn.

"New guy. He got us out," Glenn replied, waving a hand in Scarlett's direction as he spoke. "Along with the redhead, whom I assume you already know from your friendly exchange."

"New guy?" Shane questioned and Scarlett let loose a smile.

"Yeah, crazy Vato and her just got into town," Morales said with a smile as he turned his eyes away from her and back towards the truck. "Hey, helicopter boy! Come say hello! Guys a cop, just like you."

The expression on Shane's face when Rick rounded the car and came into sight was that of bewilderment and pain. At first, Lori and Carl hadn't noticed, but it was the young boy who spotted him first.

"Oh my God." Rick mumbled, eyes watering.

"Dad! Dad!" Carl shouted, sprinting off towards his father as Lori stared in disbelief by Scarlett's side.

With his son in his arms, Rick had let loose a few sobs as he fell to the ground. Scarlett was fighting back a few tears of her own at the sight in front of her. What were the chances of them being reunited? It was too good to be true. Getting up as quickly as he had gotten down, Rick swiftly walked over to Lori and embraces her as well.

Though Scarlett didn't miss the odd eye contact between Shane and Lori when it happened.

* * *

 _Familiar faces and new problems, yay!_

 _More canon characters will be introduced and brought into the story in the next chapter, so I hope y'all are ready. Meeting up with the rest of the group means meeting up with the younger Dixon. Can't wait to write the interactions to come._

 _Feedback is always welcome here! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story as a whole and going forward._

 _Anyways, see you in the next update,_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


	8. The Younger Dixon

_Hey hey!_

 _I'd been planning on posting this chapter over the weekend but sadly I had barely any time do much of anything, let alone sleep lol thankfully, the majority of this chapter was already written from my last little five hour binge writing session, so there wasn't much to do but edit. :)_

 _Thank you to JediGemini, SilverWolfMoon77, celia azul, mahmehalh, punxzr0xz89, DWgeek2010, EastDenise, LoverPR-SN-HP, and noemi-fin for favouriting/following the story! It warms my heart to receive support like this, so thank you very much!_

 _In terms of reviews,_

 _devoncarman: I'm happy to hear that you're continuing to enjoy the fic! I was v excited to finally bring Daryl into the story, and I cannot wait for Scarlett and Daryl's bond to grow as time progresses. While Daryl is rough around the edges, I feel like Scarlett will be able to see past that before anyone else..._

 _As always, I hope you all are doing well and that 2017 is treating you okay._

 _Enjoy you guys~_

* * *

"Disoriented. I guess that comes closest."

The light had disappeared from the sky and had been replaced by darkness. The hours of daylight for Scarlett had been spent setting up her own tent with Shane, which she had expected to be full of witty comebacks and snide remarks, but was instead a silent activity. Something was off about Shane, and she didn't know what it was, but she kept to herself and continued on quietly.

Much to her delight, the others had grabbed her bag of supplies from the department store when they left. She'd thanked all of them, for she had some important things in it that had helped her survive when she had been alone. Her tent was set up amongst the trees and a good amount of space remained between her and the others. She was fine with that; she needed quiet every once in a while.

At the moment, they were all sat around a fire that was low burning. She sat beside Glenn and Rick, who had both his wife and child in his arms. Scarlett didn't want to intervene with them being reunited, so she had small conversations with Glenn instead.

"Disoriented," Rick continued as he described his feelings when he woke up from the coma. "Fear. Confusion. All those things, but disoriented comes closest."

"Words can be meager things," The older man from before said, who Scarlett believed was called Dale. "Sometimes they fall short."

Scarlett smiled softy. He was a peculiar man and for that reason she couldn't wait to have a conversation with him. She wanted to pick at his brain, for he seemed soft-spoken and quite smart. She had yet to be properly introduced to the majority of the people at the camp.

"I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else," Rick explained. "For a while, I thought I was trapped in some coma dream. Something I might not ever wake up from."

"Mom said you died." Carl spoke up, gazing at his father.

"She had every reason to believe that. Don't you ever doubt it."

"When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta," Lori explained. "And it never happened."

"Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell," Rick replied. "And from the look of that hospital, it got overrun."

"Yeah, looks don't deceive," Shane finally spoke up. "Scarlett and I barely got out of there, you know?"

"I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane," Rick said, looking over at his best friend. "I can't begin to express it. And you, Scarlett. Thank you for getting me back to my family."

She had been startled by the sudden thank you. She had been too busy looking into the embers of the fire as she listened to the soft conversation floating around the circle. Scarlett brought her eyes up to meet his gaze, only to see the sincerity in his eyes once again. If she had learned anything about Rick Grimes over the years, it was that you could easily tell his emotions from his eyes.

"It's the least I could do," she replied, giving him a soft smile. "You're practically family, you've done so much for my sister and I."

"I don't think you realize it, but the reason all of us got out of there was because of your plan." Glenn spoke up.

"A risky plan."

"But it worked, didn't it?"

Scarlett went quiet once again. She supposed that her plan did work, if only shaky around the edges. It had been gross, tedious and a little frightening, but it nonetheless worked. Everyone was safely back, the only exception being Merle but she tried her best not to think about it.

"Where's your sister?" Andrea spoke up, bringing the conversation elsewhere.

"I don't know," she replied, poking at the flames with a stick. "We weren't together when everything went to hell."

"How old is she?"

"Roughly the same age as yours."

Scarlett couldn't help but say it with a small smile. The two sisters had been curled up by the fire together, both happily basking in each other's presence. The redhead was glad that at least other families had been reunited because of her.

"I appreciate the warm welcome as well," she stated out of the blue, feeling the need to thank everyone. "It's comforting to have others nearby during these times."

"Our pleasure," Morales spoke up, sitting by his own family. "It helps that you're a paramedic, but our pleasure."

"I'm going to ignore the jab this time, but I won't be so kind next time."

The joke threat received a few laughs and Scarlett's anxiety managed to lower slightly. She could tell this was a good group, even though she hadn't been a part of it for long.

The sound of a log being placed on the fire behind them caught Scarlett's attention, along with everyone else's. She had almost forgotten that there had been another small fire going on, but she quickly remembered why she'd repressed it. Around the second fire sat a man, a woman, and a little girl. She assumed that the two adults were married and that the young girl was there daughter, but those didn't seem like the right words to use. There was intensity in the air around them that even made Scarlett feel uneasy. The man had the aura of a complete asshole, while the woman and girl were stiff as boards on the ends of their seats, eyes cast downward in something that could only be described as fear.

From a simple look at the family, Scarlett could tell it wasn't healthy. That horrific feeling felt right at home in her chest as she watched them.

"Hey, Ed. You want to rethink that log?" Shane called over to the man.

"It's cold." Even the sound of his voice made Scarlett's body shake with anger.

"The cold don't change the rules, does it? Keep our fires low, just embers," Shane continued. "So we can't be seen from a distance, right?"

"I said it's cold," Ed stated again, not even looking in their direction. "You should mind your own business for once."

One of the things that separated Shane from Scarlett was that she actually had patience when it came to bullshit. Even when it was dumb as all hell, she could keep her composure. Most of the time, that is. Ever since the incident with Merle, she'd felt on edge. She used that as an excuse for now.

Shane got up from his chair and walked over to the other campfire, standing right in front of Ed.

"You sure you want to have this conversation, man?" Shane asked calmly.

Ed stared up at Shane for a long minute, an internal debate evidently going on in his mind. A sigh finally escaped his mouth before he looked over at his wife.

"Go on. Pull the damn thing out," Ed said, scratching his head while the woman stayed sitting on her chair. "Go on!"

The woman got up and quickly moved over toward the fire, lifting the burning log out of the fire and placing it on the ground. She moved back to her chair as Shane stepped on the log, attempting to get rid of the small flames that danced along it.

Scarlett could feel her eyes narrow into slits as she watched the back of Ed's head. He was the scum of the earth, that one. She'd barely seen him throughout the day but she already wanted nothing to do with him.

She would have a talk with Shane about him later.

"Hey Carol, Sophia. How are y'all this evening?" Shane asked, his attention now on the mother and daughter.

"We're just fine." The woman Carol answered almost robotically.

"Okay."

"I'm sorry about the fire." She said, a bit more feeling in her words this time.

"No, no, no. No apology needed," Shane answered. "Y'all have a good night, okay?"

"Thank you."

"I appreciate the cooperation." Shane said to Ed as he made his way back over to the other fire.

Scarlett eyed Shane carefully, hoping to catch his gaze as he sat down. She managed to send him a questioning look, only for him to nod. Good, he'd tell her later.

"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon?" Dale spoke up, catching Scarlett's attention. He must have been Merle's brother. She only hoped he wasn't as disgusting and thick headed as his brother. "He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind."

"I'll tell him," T-Dog spoke up. "I dropped the key. It's on me."

"I cuffed him. That makes it mine." Rick stated.

"I kneed him in the gut and shot at him," Scarlett threw in, dropping her stick and looking at the two men. "It's not a competition."

"I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy," Glenn spoke up before glancing at Scarlett. "Or white woman."

Yet again, Glenn had a point.

"I did what I did," T-Dog stated. "Hell if I'm gonna hide from him."

"We could lie." Andrea's younger sister Amy suggested.

"Or tell the truth," Andrea said, looking around at everyone. "Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed. If Merle got left behind, it's nobody's fault but Merle's."

"And that's what we tell Daryl?" Dale questioned, obviously not too keen on the idea. "I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you? Word to the wise, we're going to have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt."

"I was scared and I ran. I'm not ashamed of it," T-Dog spoke again.

"We were all scared. We all ran. What's your point?" Andrea asked.

"I stopped long enough to chain that door," he continued and everyone slowly looked over to him. "Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it. At any one time, it's not enough to break through that. Not that chain. Not that padlock."

"So you're saying he's still up on that roof…alive?" Scarlett questioned.

"And that's on us."

* * *

Scarlett couldn't remember a time where she had slept so long. A part of her felt bad for waking up so late in the day, but she knew that her body needed the rest. Yesterday had been a tiring day, and after the conversation around the campfire last night, she definitely needed to give her mind a break.

By the time she got up, everyone was already up and about. Lori had given her a pair of fresh clothes to sleep in the night before and when Scarlett unzipped the flap of her tent, she saw that her old clothes had been washed and returned to her in a neatly folded pile.

Slipping into her usual jeans, black tank top, and dark green button up shirt, Scarlett ventured towards camp with a yawn on her lips. She would first thank Lori for washing her clothes and then ask what she could do to help. Maybe someone in the group had a bad cut or something that needed to be looked at.

As she emerged from the tree line and into the camp with Stella by her side, Dale was the first to greet her.

"Well, hello! Was wondering if a walker had gotten you in the middle of the night. Was just about to go send someone to get you." The older man joked and Scarlett sent him a tired smile.

"Sorry. I don't know what happened. I usually don't sleep that long, if at all."

"Nothing to apologize for. Your mind needed the rest," he continued, holding his hand out towards her and she shook it. "The name's Dale, by the way. You're Scarlett, correct?"

"That would be me."

"You were a paramedic?"

"Yes I was."

"Fantastic. We don't have anyone here with a medical background." Dale sighed in content and she chuckled softly.

"I've got my first aid kit if we ever need it," Scarlett said. "I've got to go speak with Lori, but it was nice talking with you, Dale."

"Likewise!"

With a final wave, Scarlett made her way through the camp. She received a few more greetings from Andrea and Amy. Spotting Glenn and Rick standing in front of the red car they had drove yesterday, Scarlett watched as Morales and T-Dog were stripping the car of it's parts.

"Look at them. Vultures," Glenn mumbled, glaring at the others. "Yeah, go on. Strip it clean."

"They taking your baby apart?" Scarlett questioned, wandering up beside Glenn.

"Thought I'd get to drive it a few more days." Glenn sighed.

"Maybe we'll get to steal another one some day," Rick said, patting him on the back as he looked over at Scarlett. "You just wake up?"

"I pretty much died last night. You?"

"About the same."

"You know where your wife is?"

"Yeah, over here. Come on."

"Sorry, Glenn." Scarlett gave him a pat on the head before following Rick towards another section of camp.

Lori was busy hanging up clothes on a makeshift clothesline that was impressively made. Scarlett wondered who'd built it. The older woman had smiled before she even looked up at Rick.

"Morning, officer," Lori said, smiling at her husband before noticing Scarlett. "Morning, sweetheart."

"Good morning," she replied. "I just wanted to thank you for washing my clothes. That was very kind of you."

"Of course, they looked like they needed a wash."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Scarlett questioned, peering at the woman.

"At the moment, I don't think so."

"She can help us with folding for now." Andrea called from behind them, giving Scarlett a smile.

"Sounds good to me," Scarlett nodded. "Talk to you two later."

As she approached the two sisters, Scarlett couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. While Rick and Lori had their differences, she knew that the cheesy lines would start flying if she didn't leave the conversation soon. They had every right to, they hadn't seen each other in forever and thought the worst about each other's fates. However, Scarlett was still pleased to not be apart of that conversation.

"Thank you," Scarlett whispered to them. "You just saved me from the worst second-hand embarrassment I would have experienced to date."

Both sisters let loose a few laughs but before Scarlett could actually help them with the clothing, the sound of a car approaching the camp caught their attention. Driving a black jeep, Shane sat behind the wheel of the vehicle and came to a halt at the edge of camp.

"Water's here, y'all," Shane said as he got out of the jeep. Scarlett couldn't help but feel her hands itch. "Just remember to boil before use."

Something in the back of Scarlett's mind was bothering her. Something had happened with Shane and Lori, that she knew, but she wasn't exactly sure what that something was. They were doing well at keeping the tension at bay, but now it was the only thing she could see between them.

Loud screaming broke through the air from beyond the trees, startling everyone in the camp. Scarlett cursed under her breath and ran into the tree line with the others, eyes searching for the source of the screams. One of the screams sounded as if it belonged to Carl, and when they came across the young boy, Sophia, and Jacqui, they knew a walker was behind it all.

Scarlett looked over at Glenn in worry, but her friend just shook his head and they continued in the direction Jacqui had pointed them in. Rick, Lori, Shane, T-Dog, Glenn, and Scarlett were the ones to reach the clearing and find the walker, eating away at a poor deer. What she found odd as she gripped her bat tight in her hands, was the two arrows poking out of the animal's hip.

Hearing the rest of the group approach slowly from behind them, Scarlett could only worry about what this meant.

As the walker turned around, Rick was the first one to get a swing. Not a second longer and everyone had joined in on the beating. It was a bit barbaric, watching as all of them were swinging away at it. Scarlett didn't even bother to take a swing of her own.

"Do you all need to be hitting it? Don't waste your energy and just attack it's head," Scarlett spoke up, only for Dale to come from out of nowhere and chop the walker's head off. "That works too, I guess."

"It's the first one we've had up here," Dale stated, looking down at the walker with unease. "They never come this far up the mountain."

"They're running out of food in the city, that's what." A man who was named Jim said, Scarlett hearing his voice for the first time. She was told that he was a mechanic.

The rustling of leaves and the snapping of twigs from behind a bush had everyone ready for the worst. If it was a bad day to have one walker roaming about on the mountains, it was about to get a lot worse with two.

Instead, a man in a worn tank top and a crossbow appeared, slightly startled to see everyone standing with the weapons ready. His eyes quickly fell on the form of the dead deer, to which his expression turned sour.

"Uh, Jesus." Shane muttered, lowering his rifle.

"Son of a bitch," the man cursed, a heavy drawl affecting his words as he came forward into the clearing. "That's my deer! Look at it, all gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!"

With each word, the man kicked at the headless walker body. Scarlett couldn't help but sigh. This must be Daryl Dixon.

"Calm down, son. That's not helping." Dale spoke up.

"What do you know about it, old man?" Daryl yelled, getting up in the older man's face. "Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'on golden pond'?"

Slowly stepping away from Dale, the man turned his attention back to the deer with narrowed eyes.

"I've been tracking this deer for miles," he muttered, pulling the arrows out of the deer's leg and hip. "Gonna drag it back to camp. Cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?"

"I would not risk that." Shane said, staring at Daryl unpleasantly.

"That's a damn shame," he replied. "I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That'll have to do."

It wasn't until he mentioned them that Scarlett noticed the line of squirrels hanging over his shoulder. She had to admit, it was impressive. Squirrels were small and fast, but he had somehow managed to catch a dozen of them.

The grotesque sound could be heard from the ground and everyone looked down to see that the walker that Dale had previously beheaded was still alive. Well, the head was.

"Come on people. What the hell?" Daryl said, point his crossbow down at the head and shooting the arrow through its eye. Placing his foot on the walker's forehead, he retracted the arrow. "It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?"

Without another word, Daryl stalked off towards the camp. Scarlett sent the other's a worried look before they all followed after the younger Dixon brother.

"Merle!" Scarlett heard Daryl yell once they finally reached camp. "Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up."

"Daryl, just slow up a bit," Shane said, placing his gun inside the jeep and following after him. "I need to talk to you."

"About what?"

"About Merle."

The immediate pause in conversation told Scarlett that the next few minutes were going to be anything but pleasant. Rick took a step forward and Lori grabbed at his shirt, but her husband continued forward.

"There was a…there was a problem in Atlanta." Shane said, finally getting the words out.

"He dead?" Daryl asked hesitantly.

"We're not sure." Shane replied honestly.

"He either is or he ain't!"

"There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." Rick spoke up, approaching the pair of men.

"Who are you?" Daryl questioned.

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?"

There was a pause as Rick looked from Shane, to Daryl, to Lori, and finally to Scarlett. It was almost like a warning, a signal to get ready for him to lash out.

"Your brother was a danger to us all," Rick began. "So, I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."

"Hold on, let me process this," Daryl said, his back turned to Rick. The man was definitely furious. "You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!"

"Yeah."

Daryl didn't hesitate on making a move on Rick but was thankfully stopped by Shane, who pretty much body checked him to the ground. Scarlett watched as Daryl pulled out a large hunting knife and her blood ran cold.

"Watch the knife." Scarlett heard T-Dog call out to both Rick and Shane as Daryl got up from the ground.

Daryl swung at Rick first, which the former sheriff quickly dodged and grabbed a hold of his wrist. Shane came from behind and caught Daryl in a headlock, leaving Rick to disarm him.

"Okay. Okay." Shane huffed quietly.

"You best let me go!" Daryl snarled.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't."

"Choke hold's illegal."

"Well, you can file a complaint," Shane shot back. "Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day."

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?" Rick questioned, only to receive no answer as he peered into the younger Dixon's face. "Do you think we can manage that?"

"Yeah." Daryl managed to say and Shane let him go.

Then three men were all huffing and puffing, trying to regain the composure.

"What I did was not on a whim," Rick explained. "Your brother does not work and play well with others."

"It's not Rick's fault." T-Dog spoke up. "I had the key. I dropped it."

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl barked back.

"Well, I dropped it in a drain."

This was all news to Scarlett. She had wondered why Merle hadn't come back with them, and now her question was answered. Even if it was someone as disgusting as Merle Dixon, nobody deserved to left alone, chained up to a roof with walkers bursting through the front door at any minute.

"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't." Daryl replied, throwing a rock down at the dirt.

"Well, maybe this will," T-Dog continued. "Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock."

"That's gotta count for something." Rick threw in.

Daryl was clearly upset, just barely keeping his composure. It was easy to see that he was holding back tears at the thought of his brother all alone, chained to a roof with the dead walking around.

"Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is, so I can go get him." Daryl yelled at the men.

"He'll show you," Lori spoke up from under the shade from the RV, her tone not sounding too kind. "Isn't that right?"

Scarlett blinked in confusion. What was Lori talking about? When had Rick decided to go back to the city? This morning? It made no sense.

"I'm going back." Rick finally stated, looking around at everyone.

Lori disappeared into the RV, her displeasure following after her.

* * *

Everyone in the group was either shocked, pissed, or worried about Rick's plan to go back to Atlanta to save Merle with Daryl. After the former sheriff walked off towards his tent, Shane seemed to disappear from sight as well. The last thing the group needed to deal with was tension building between some of its people, but here they were.

Scarlett stared long and hard at Daryl Dixon's profile, watching as he cleaned his arrows and prepared for Atlanta. She didn't know what to make of Rick's decision on travelling back to the city to save someone like Merle. A part of her couldn't help but have malicious thoughts towards the rude man who had put them all in danger. However, leaving him chained to a roof with the dead walking around wasn't the most humane thing in the world. Going back there felt like a suicide mission, but if they did it properly, they might actually manage.

"What're you looking at?"

Coming out of her thoughts and blinking a few times, Scarlett realized that Daryl had caught her staring. She hadn't meant to; she was too busy analyzing the situation at hand. His words were a bit rude, but she had a feeling that she was making him uncomfortable as well. Daryl's eyes narrowed as he watched her carefully.

"I'm not sure." She replied honestly, still in a bit of a haze as she walked off towards her own tent.

Coming across her tent and unzipping the flap, Scarlett slipped inside and immediately began searching for supplies. Rick wasn't stupid and she never believed him to be. Of course, some of his actions were questionable, but he never made decisions like this unless he fundamentally believed in them. If they wanted to get Merle back and escape Atlanta in one piece, they were going to need her medical expertise to make it happen.

She emptied out the things from her bag that she wouldn't need on the trip before exiting her tent once again. Not having a clue when they planned on going, Scarlett was prepared to leave at a moments notice.

"Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?"

Scarlett spotted both Shane and Rick as soon as she reached the camp, both obviously having a discussion about Rick's plan.

"Hey, choose your words more carefully." Daryl stated, giving Shane a pointed look.

"No, I did. Douche bag's what I meant," Shane replied, returning his look before turning back to his best friend. "Merle Dixon. The guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst."

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me," Rick said calmly. "I can't let a man die of thirst. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being."

Rick's words mirrored Scarlett's thoughts exactly. She didn't give a damn about Merle Dixon, but the way that they left him was horrific. In her opinion, she would have rather been killed than to be left like that.

"So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" Lori asked, sitting by the makeshift clothesline like she had been earlier that morning.

Scarlett knew before Rick even turned to him that the sheriff would take Glenn with them.

"Oh, come on." Glenn sighed, face falling in dread.

"You know the way," Rick said, trying to convince the Asian. "You've been there before. In and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It's not fair of me to ask, I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too."

"That's just great," Shane spoke up, looking pissed. "Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?"

"Four." T-Dog threw in.

"My day just gets better and better, don't it?" Daryl muttered to himself.

"You see anybody else here stepping up to save your bother's cracker ass?"

"Why you?"

"You wouldn't even begin to understand. You don't speak my language."

"That's four." Dale spoke up, looking around at the group.

"Might as well make it five."

Everyone looked over at Scarlett in surprise, almost as if they hadn't noticed her approach from the tree line.

"I don't think so, Holloway." Shane said, turning his angry gaze to her.

"It's not your decision," she replied, crossing her arms. "My guess is, Merle isn't gonna be in the best shape up on that roof. If you want to get him back here alright, they're going to need me."

"You sure about this, Scarlett?" Rick asked, eyeing her carefully.

"I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea, but I understand your morals. I could give two shits about Merle Dixon…sorry," Scarlett said, sending Daryl a quick side-glance. "But I agree, we shouldn't have left him like that."

"You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that Rick," Shane growled at Rick. "Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got."

"Even more of a reason to go." Scarlett mumbled, eyes suddenly widening in realization. How had she not thought of it until now?

"The hell are you-!"

"What we need here is more guns." Rick interrupted his best friend.

"Right, the guns." Glenn said, remembering the bag that Rick had dropped in the streets of Atlanta.

"Wait, what guns?" Shane asked.

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns," Rick explained. "Scarlett and I cleaned out the cage back at the station before we left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when we got swarmed."

"It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up." Scarlett threw in.

"Ammo?" Shane questioned hesitantly.

"700 rounds, assorted."

Scarlett could practically see Shane's view of the situation waver.

"You went through hell to find us," Lori spoke up, standing from her spot on the ground to face her husband. "You just got here and you're going to turn around and leave?"

"Dad, I don't want you to go." Carl muttered, watching Rick with worried eyes.

"To hell with the guns. Shane is right," Lori continued, her voice rising in volume. "Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with the guns thrown in. Tell me. Make me understand."

From the few years Scarlett had known Lori, she didn't like when the woman got angry. It wasn't just because she was scary when it happened, but she occasionally became unreasonable to talk to, drawing conclusions from words that otherwise meant no harm. It worried Scarlett to see her getting angry.

"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy," Rick explained calmly as he approached his wife. "Lori, if they hadn't taken Scarlett and I in, I would have died. It's because of them that I made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow us to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap we did if we don't warn him."

"What's stopping you?" Lori questioned, her voice much softer.

"The walkie-talkie," Scarlett spoke up. "The one in the bag that Rick dropped. He's got the other one. The plan was to connect when they got closer. That man did a lot for both Rick and I. You know I don't praise others so easily, so please take Rick's word for it."

There was a pause as Lori looked between both Rick and Scarlett. She didn't look as angry as before, more so frustrated with the situation in front of them.

"Those our walkies?" Shane asked Rick.

"Yeah."

"So use the CB, what's wrong with that?" Andrea questioned, looking at the two men.

"The CB's fine, it's the walkies that suck to crap," Shane explained. "Date back to the '70's, don't match any other bandwidth. Not even the scanners in our cars."

"I need that bag." Rick concluded, watching Lori's face morph through a few different emotions.

Scarlett didn't exactly want to stick around to see the tension grow between the married couple, making her way over to Glenn and patting him on the back.

"Come on, let's go grab the truck."

It didn't take long for everyone to get ready to go. Rick and T-Dog went to go get bolt cutters from Dale, since they would need them for the chains on the rooftop door. Daryl was pacing back and forth in the back of truck like a wild animal, anxious to get on the road. Scarlett and Glenn got the truck ready to go and were currently sitting in the front seat partaking in idle chitchat.

"I can't believe you actually volunteered to come." Glenn mumbled, eyebrows furrowed in concern and trepidation.

"I'm only here to make things go faster," Scarlett explained, tapping her fingers on the end of her metal bat. "Plus, I need to keep an eye on you two."

"Gee, thanks."

"Adding T-Dog and the wild animal back there, I couldn't _not_ come along."

"I heard that." Daryl grunted from behind them.

"There are worse things to be called."

"What? Redneck? Douche bag?"

"Those titles are reserved for your brother," Scarlett said, looking over at Daryl, who was staring right back at her. "You don't seem nearly as bad as him."

"You sure about that?" Glenn mumbled nervously.

"Unless he picks a fight with T-Dog for being black or calls me ginger bitch, then yeah I'm pretty sure." Scarlett stated, looking over at her friend as he let out a scoff.

"Why are you even coming along?" Daryl muttered from the back.

"I've got a medical background."

Daryl didn't even bother replying after that. The only thing Scarlett heard from him was a quiet sigh leaving his mouth.

"Come on, let's go!" He yelled out the back of the truck.

They waited a few more minutes in silence, the only sound coming form the pacing Daryl had continued doing as they waited. Scarlett heard the faint voices of Rick and Shane, most likely having one final conversation before they took off for the city. She was surprised that Shane hadn't made more of a fuss regarding the plan, though she suspected the guns played a part in that.

Scarlett almost jumped when Rick threw open the passenger side door. The two of them made eye contact for a moment before she let out a sigh.

"I'll move to the back." Scarlett muttered, getting a sympathetic pat from Glenn as she crawled between the seats to join both T-Dog and Daryl.

Closing up the back and starting the truck, there was barely any hesitation as they pulled away from the camp. The silence that had fallen amongst the five of them as soon as they left didn't help ease Scarlett's nerves. She sat a little away from where Daryl and T-Dog were sitting, which was right by the back of the truck. Keeping herself busy by sorting through her bag, she couldn't believe that they were actually on their way back to Atlanta. Even the name of the city made her skin crawl, flashbacks of walking through dozens of walkers covered in guts that would haunt her until the day she died. Maybe even after _that_.

"He better be okay," Daryl spoke up after a while, staring at T-Dog. "That's my only word on the matter."

"I told you. The geeks can't get at him," he replied. "The only thing that's gonna get through that door is us."

"I get that you're worried," Scarlett spoke up, turning her attention to both men. "But threatening him isn't going to get you anywhere."

"Why the hell should I listen to you?" Daryl questioned, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Cause I know that worry," she replied, returning his harsh look. "My sixteen year-old sister is out there on her own, maybe dead for all I know. At least you know where you brother is and he's a grown man. I'm not trying to belittle your pain, but you don't see me spitting threats at the person next to me. So please, just take it easy, okay?"

It was more of a plea than a demand, her voice softening towards the end of her speech at the realization of her sister's fate. She hadn't thought about it until she'd said the words, her stomach dropping in dread. Victoria wasn't weak, but she was still a kid. The chances of her surviving on her own were slim, and the possibility of them reuniting was even slimmer.

Scarlett fought back her tears as she felt the truck come to a stop. This wasn't the time or place to be emotional, this was the time to buckle down and survive.

"We walk from here." She heard Glenn say from the front seat.

The back of the truck was opened as Rick and Glenn exited at the front. Throwing her pack over her shoulder and grasping Stella tightly, Scarlett made her way to the back of the truck, where T-Dog and Daryl had already jumped down. Thankfully, T-Dog helped her down from the back and she quietly thanked him as she took in their surroundings. They were on some train tracks, just outside the city from the look of it. It was smart on Glenn's behalf, parking away from the mayhem that could be found in Atlanta.

Without another word, the five of them jogged away from the truck and towards the city.

* * *

 _Boom, Daryl Dixon's in the mix now._

 _The first interactions between Daryl and Scarlett didn't exactly turn out as I planned them to go, but in a way they turned out more realistic. A bond is made over time, not just conjured out of thin air. I look forward to the chapter where they begin to understand one another. Hopefully, that'll be sooner than later._

 _Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Feedback is always welcome, my friends._

 _See you in the next update,_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


	9. Back To The Unlucky City

_The writing gods have undone my writers block and this is what happened..._

 _Hello again everyone!_

 _I hope you're all doing well. Once again, for the fiftieth time, I apologize for the lack of updates. I don't want to give you guys a ton of excuses as to why I haven't been posting, and frankly I'm tired of having to give them lol To keep it short, my childhood home sold and it was mildly traumatic considering it didn't go on the best of terms, if that makes any sense. Plus, my anxiety medication has been keeping me from sleeping, and then when I don't take it I get dizzy. So, in other words, my life is a bit of a mess right now :D_

 _Anyways! A big thank you to Kokiee, Sitalia, djmegamouth, Cheshire neko chan, MiniKitsuneChan, NeedaMoment, TempestinTime, juliannagrc03, juliannagrc0363, and kathrynwerewolves14 for following/favouriting the story. As always, thank you for joining me on this stories journey. The support means the world to me!_

 _For reviews:_

 _djmegamouth: I'm glad that you enjoyed the first chapters and are looking forward to the next one! Thankfully, it's finally here. Thanks for waiting~_

 _devoncarmon: It's good to hear that you were happy with how Scarlett and Daryl's first interaction came out. Like I said, I wasn't thrilled with how it turned out, but it was much more realistic. I find that a good amount of fics tend to spoil the first greetings between main characters, making them out to be unrealistic when considering the personalities of said characters. Of course, I'm not saying mine was anywhere near perfect, which it wasn't, but I'm happy to hear that it was realistic to you as well. Thank you so much for your patience!_

 _As a form of apology, this chapter is longer than the usual ones I've posted. I debated on whether or not to split it in half, but I figured you guys deserved something longer considering my absence. I even added a small part from Daryl's perspective, so feel free to let me know how it turned out. I honestly can't tell if it's garbage or not lol._

 _Again, thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the support._

 _Enjoy~_

* * *

How they managed to slip into the city without drawing much attention to themselves, Scarlett didn't have a clue. She had to hand it to Glenn, he knew his way around the city. She was sure that there were a lot factors that had to make this plan turn out the way they wanted it to, and the first half was already going quite well. Everyone was quiet and aware of their surrounds, not making any stupid moves that might cause them trouble. As much as there was a bit of tension between them, everybody covered each other's backs without needing to be told to.

Scarlett could also tell that everyone was keeping an eye on her. It was a bit annoying, since she was certain the only reason for that was because she was a woman. A part of her was thankful that they were making sure that she was all right, but another part of her wanted them to focus on their own safety, rather than hers. There was no overwhelming urge to prove that she could manage on her own, knowing that would only affect her collective demeanour and cause her to lose her focus. She simply continued along with them without a word.

Jogging along and slipping through a gap in the fence, it was Rick who spoke up regarding their plan.

"Merle first? Or the guns?"

"Merle! We ain't even having this conversation." Daryl quickly replied, stubbornly set on finding his brother.

"We are," Rick stated harshly. Scarlett couldn't blame Daryl for being worried about his brother, but the decision wasn't exactly up to him. The former sheriff looked over at Glenn. "You know the geography. It's your call."

"Merle's closest," Glenn decided. "The guns would mean doubling back."

"Then Merle first." Scarlett agreed.

Since they had made it through the city so quickly, she almost missed the fact that they had already reached the department store. She was pleased with the time they made, but the nervousness was crawling into her skin at the thought of what remained inside the building. Scarlett only hoped that her little diversion in the car with Glenn helped draw the majority of the herd away, and not still in the building waiting for their return.

Entering the large building through the back, the five of them crept cautiously into the area where the department store remained. Coming to a silent halt, Rick glanced back at the group and pointed in the direction of a lone walker, shuffling behind the jewelry counter. Daryl was sent a quick nod and the younger Dixon carefully approached the walker with his crossbow at the ready.

"Damn," he muttered to himself. "You are one ugly skank."

Scarlett fought back the urge to let out a sigh as one of Daryl's arrows plunged itself into the walker's eye socket. Quickly going over and pulling the arrow out of its head, the five of them continued through the building.

With the lack of walkers in the building, Scarlett could only feel anxious about their luck. Even how they had gotten into the city so easily made her feel on edge. Maybe it was just her inner monologue being too uptight or unreasonable, she honestly couldn't tell anymore. All she knew was that from coming across all the shit they had, things were going too well.

The group passed through the rest of the building before finding the metal stairs that lead up to the roof. The sound of their feet hitting the steps wasn't the quietest thing in the world, but for once they could actually afford to be loud. With no walkers in their way, the trek up to the roof was a straightforward one. Scarlett was a bit surprised to see that the chain on the rooftop door was still intact, T-Dog quickly pulling out the large pair of bolt cutters that the redhead could only assume were from Dale. With a loud snap and the sound of the chain hitting the floor, they threw open the door and stepped out onto the roof.

"Merle!" Daryl yelled, being the first of the group to run across the roof. The rest of them quickly followed behind.

It was in that moment where Scarlett had been right to doubt their luck. She should have known from the lack of a sarcastic or gross remark that would have been howled as soon as Merle had heard them open the door. Where the man had remained chained up and left behind was nothing, the exception being that of the handcuffs, a hacksaw, and quite a lot of blood.

Right in the middle of it remained a hand.

Daryl was already starting to lose his mind at the fact that his brother was nowhere to be fond, the presence of blood causing his brother's fate to not look particularly great. Carefully ducking past the group, Scarlett walked over and crouched beside the hand. While the cut wasn't exactly the cleanest, it sure wasn't done by a walker. The lack of teeth marks and the rest of the body were prominent in her mind. What happened to Merle appeared a lot more obvious once a closer look had been taken.

A growl of rage erupted from Daryl as he turned and pointed his crossbow directly in T-Dog's face, Rick quickly pulling out his own gun to point it back at the younger Dixon.

"I won't hesitate," Rick warned him. "I don't care if every walker in this city hears it."

The conflict taking place in Daryl's head was easy to see. Once again, Scarlett couldn't exactly blame the man for being upset. She tried to picture things from his perspective, wondering how she would act if it were Victoria in Merle's situation. She'd probably lash out at the person the most responsible as well. While she might not point a gun at their head, she would have definitely let them have it.

"I don't think he's dead, if that's any consolation," Scarlett spoke up, trying to ease the rising tension. "Bloody hack saw means he cut through his arm. I'm guessing the blade was too dull for the handcuffs. There are some major arteries in the arm, so the fact that there's only blood here means that he managed to stop the blood flow in time to keep him alive. Probably used his belt or something."

While Daryl didn't look pleased, he appeared much more collected than he'd been only moments ago. He gazed at her in silent contemplation as she stared calmly back in his direction. She wasn't lying or trying to beat around the bush. Scarlett only told him what she observed, and she was sure that even Daryl Dixon would be thankful for that.

Breaking eye contact with her and turning to T-Dog, Daryl spoke to the man in the calmest voice he'd used yet.

"You got a do-rag or somethin'?" He asked, to which T-Dog stared at him in question before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a blue handkerchief. Taking the piece of fabric from T-Dog, the younger Dixon marched over to where Scarlett remained crouched, joining her in the position as he reached out to pick up the hand.

"You're right," Daryl muttered to Scarlett as he stared at the hand in disgust. "Ain't that a bitch?"

Lying out the piece of cloth and placing the hand in its centre, he carefully wrapped up the appendage and picked it up in his hands. Getting up and approaching Glenn, he ushered for the Asian to turn around so that he could get to the bag on his back. Glenn looked anything but happy to have the hand shoved into his knapsack, especially one that wasn't attached to an arm.

"Follow the blood?" Scarlett inquired, eyeing the small trail of blood that lead off to another area of the roof.

While she didn't receive a verbal reply, Daryl definitely had the same thing in mind. Leading the way, the rest of the group quickly followed behind him, guns at the ready as the entered through another doorway into the building. More stairs could be found leading down to the lower floor, which they slowly descended down.

"Merle! You in here?" Daryl called, peering over the edge of the stairs at the bottom level.

With no answer, the five of them continued down the stairs and through the rooms on the ground floor. The majority of the place had been trashed, either by walkers or by people trying to escape them. The occasional walker would appear, Daryl being responsible for taking them out quietly. Once again, Scarlett was shocked by the lack of walkers that they'd come across, but stayed quiet as they ventured forward.

Rounding a corner and into another room, Scarlett's eyes fell on two dead walkers spread out across the floor with their heads bashed in. The only person she could think of being responsible was Merle.

"Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches," Daryl remarked, gazing down at the two bodies. "One handed."

"I'm surprised he managed to cut through his own arm with that dull hacksaw." Scarlett mumbled.

"Toughest asshole I've ever met, my brother," he continued, sending her a quick look. "Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss," Rick contended in response. "No matter how tough he is."

"Let's just hope he cauterized the stump." She finished with a sigh.

The five fell back into silence again, continuing through the hallways at a slow but cautious pace. Glenn kept sending her worried glances, leaving her wishing that she could reassure him in some way, but she was too busy checking every doorway of every room they passed by, too nervous about being attacked.

"Merle!" Daryl suddenly yelled, making everyone jump.

"We're not alone here, remember?" Rick hissed in response.

"Screw that," the young Dixon stated. "He could be bleeding out. You said so yourself."

Walking into what appeared to be some sort of kitchen area, the first thing that caught Scarlett's eye was the burner running on one of the stoves. Sure enough, beside it sat a bloodied belt and a metal tool of some sort. On the surface of the tool, a burned substance was stuck to it.

"What's that burned stuff?" Glenn questioned. That's when it hit her.

"Holy shit, he actually did manage to cauterize it." Scarlett muttered in awe, looking between the others.

"So, in other words…" Glenn droned, his face falling in disgust.

"Skin." Rick answered.

"Told you he was tough," Daryl stated. "Nobody can kill Merle but Merle."

"Don't take that on faith," Rick cautioned, looking around the kitchen for any other clues. "He's lost a lot of blood."

"Yeah?" The younger Dixon chided, approaching a broken window off to their left. "Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap."

Scarlett was silent as she stared at the broken glass of the windowpane. He'd really managed to fight his way through all of this?

"He left the building?" Glenn asked in disbelief. "Why the hell would he do that?"

"Why wouldn't he? He's out there alone, as far as he knows," Daryl replied. "Doing what he's gotta do. Surviving."

"You call that surviving?" T-Dog quoted, eyeing the man in doubt. "Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What're his odds out there?"

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks." Daryl contested, eyeing both Glenn and T-Dog before turning his attention to Rick. "You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard."

"What about a thousand dumb dead bastards? Different story?" The former sheriff replied, both men getting too close to fighting for Scarlett's liking.

"Why don't you take a tally? Do what you want. Imma go get him."

Attempting to get by Rick, Daryl was quickly stopped by the sheriff's deputy.

"Daryl, wait."

"Get your hands off me! You can't stop me!"

"Daryl, please," Scarlett stated, bringing the attention to her and looking at the younger Dixon. "You know we didn't leave him here on purpose. Hell, we came back here to help you find him."

"I didn't ask for your help." He replied coldly and she sighed.

"Tough luck, we're here now," she replied harshly, taking notice of her own cold tone and trying to breathe for a moment. "Look, I get it. You're so close to finding him and you feel like we're holding you back. Maybe we are, but we're here to look at things from different perspectives and come up with the best possible plan to find your brother, get those guns Rick and I dropped, and return in one piece. It won't be easy, but we need to co-operate if we want to get this shit to work."

"Scarlett's right," Rick agreed. "I don't blame you. He's family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine and Scarlett's going through it right now trying to find her little sister. We know exactly how you feel. He can't get far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head."

There was a pause as Daryl glanced between both Rick and Scarlett in question.

"I can do that." He muttered after a moment.

Rick turned his gaze over to both T-Dog and Glenn, who looked worn out and mildly annoyed with the situation in front of them.

"Only if we get those guns first," T-Dog stated with one long exhale. "I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?"

* * *

"Glenn, you must be out of your god damn mind."

The five of them were sitting in a small room with a few desks and the occasional shelf filled with boxes, attempting to come up with a plan to grab the bag. Crouched around a makeshift map that Glenn had drawn on the floor with a sharpie, the redhead was ready to argue. Glenn had let it slip that he'd be the one to run and grab the bag by himself, and Scarlett wasn't having any of it.

"I agree with Scarlett," Rick said, sending her a quick glance. "You're not doing this alone."

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like you much." Daryl threw in, to which Scarlett smacked his shoulder without much of a thought. He appeared just as surprised as she felt, but somehow managing to keep a cold exterior, Scarlett looked back at Glenn.

"It's a good idea, just hear me out," Glenn pleaded, ushering down to the makeshift map that they were all crouched around. "If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast."

Scarlett was still staring at him harshly, her stance on the situation unwavering.

"Look," he sighed, looking at the map. "That's the tank, five blocks from where we are now. That's the bag of guns. Here's the alley I dragged you and Scarlett into when we first met. That's where Daryl, Scarlett and I will go."

"Why me?" Daryl asked.

"Your crossbow is quieter than his gun," Glenn explained before looking over at Scarlett, who had her eyebrow raised. "And you've got your bat, you can cover Daryl if you need to."

"Like a bat's gonna do much." Daryl scoffed and she sent him a look that could only be interpreted as _'you really want to find out?'_. The man raised his own eyebrows at her.

"Glenn, why don't I just come with you? I'll be better covering your back than his." Scarlett sighed, turning her attention back to her friend.

"I don't know-"

"I'm fast, I'll stay out of your way. You've seen it first hand."

As contemplation rolled over his face, a loud irritated sigh escaped Glenn's mouth before he sent her a quick nod.

"While Daryl waits in the alley, Scarlett and I run up the street, grab the bag of guns." Glenn continued.

"You got us elsewhere?" Rick inquired, staring down at the map.

"You and T-Dog, right," Glenn muttered, placing an eraser on the map to mark their position. "You'll be in this alley here."

"Two blocks away? Why?"

"We may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut us off. If that happens, we won't go back to Daryl. We'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction we go, we've got you in both places to cover us. Afterwards, we'll all meet back here."

"Hey, kid. What'd you do before all this?" Daryl spoke up, looking over at Glenn.

"Delivered pizzas. Why?"

Scarlett couldn't help but glance over at Glenn in surprise. This was news to her, never having asked her friend's employment before. She'd never had the time to, but now that she knew, it was almost like no other job suited him better.

Going over the plan once more, the group got ready to split in two. No matter how much trouble they'd already gotten into, Rick still had that worried look in his eyes when he looked over at Scarlett. She could tell that he was nervous to let her leave his side, and she couldn't fault him for it; they were pretty much family at this point, more so now than before the dead started walking around. While they could afford to be away from one another, it still made them both anxious.

A halfhearted smile graced Scarlett's lips as she walked over to Rick, took off her pack and gave it to him.

"Could you take this for me? It'll only slow me down when I'm out there." Scarlett questioned, eyeing the sheriff carefully.

"Yeah. Of course," Rick replied, his hand reaching out to grab ahold of the backpack. "You be careful, okay? Don't need you or Glenn getting hurt or worse."

"Same to you," she exhaled, scratching at her forehead. "See you on the flip side."

Thankfully, her little comment wrestled a smile out of the sheriff, to which she returned. Bidding T-Dog good luck as well, Scarlett finally turned to both Glenn and Daryl. The two were standing by the fire escape, the same one that Rick, Glenn and her had used before to get away from the walkers. The memory threatened to make her blood turn cold, but a nudge from Glenn brought her back to reality.

"Ready?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, let's get this over with."

Glenn was the first to descend the large, yellow ladder that lead down into the alley, Scarlett doing down second while Daryl brought up the rear. Once they were all on the ground, the three of them silently crept down the alley, occasionally hiding behind a garbage can or a stack of boxes.

"You got some balls for a chinaman." Daryl commented as he loaded an arrow onto his crossbow.

"I'm Korean." Glenn chided, giving Scarlett an annoyed look.

"Whatever," the younger Dixon replied. "And you watch his ass, Raggedy Ann."

In other circumstances, Scarlett would have burst out laughing at the nickname. She'd been called a handful of nicknames over the years, but 'Raggedy Ann' was definitely a new one. While the only thing that was similar between Scarlett and the doll was the red hair, she couldn't help but turn and look back at Daryl with a hint of a smile on her lips.

"Yeah, I like you a lot better than your brother."

"Why's that?"

"At least your nicknames are creative."

Catching Glenn shaking his head out of the corner of her eyes, Scarlett watched Daryl let out a bit of a dry laugh at her response.

"Come on, let's go."

Glenn and Scarlett quickly approached the chained fence at the end of the alley, leaving Daryl behind one of the dumpsters. Her friend gave her a quick nod before the two quickly bolted around the corner and shuffled behind some cars. The plan was simple; follow Glenn and cover him if he needed it. All she had on her was Stella, her Colt, and a large knife strapped to her right thigh if they were in need of it. In other words, she was the only one out of the two who was armed.

Pausing to watch a walker shuffle away from where they needed to go, Scarlett stayed right on Glenn's heel as they continued forward down the street using the cars for cover. The two ducked one last car as Scarlett finally spotted the bag of guns, stilly lying on the ground where Rick had dropped them. Right next to it sat the former sheriff's hat.

Spotting Glenn making a move to go get the bag, she quickly followed and watched as he swiftly picked up the bag. Her eyes fell on the sheriff's hat and without hesitation, picked it up as well. In their moment of pause, a walker had managed to creep it's way towards them, to which Scarlett gave the thing one quick swing to the head before following after Glenn.

The sound of yelling reached her ears and she shot Glenn a worried look as they sprinted down the street back towards where Daryl was. He immediately returned her look, quickly coming to a halt at the end of the alley near the chained fence.

Two men were beating away at Daryl; one kicking at him while one was swinging a bat down on him. There was another boy who was lying on the ground, but Scarlett didn't pay him much attention. It only took the strangers a few seconds before they spotted Glenn and Scarlett, though the redhead had already pulled her gun from her waistband and pointed it at them.

"Get away from him. Now!" She yelled at the two strangers, loading her Colt with one hand as her eyes narrowed into slits.

While the two men did freeze, the sound of a car coming to a screeching halt behind her caused her attention to falter from the strangers and towards the sound. As she was looking over her shoulder, a fist made contact with her cheek and resulted in her dropping the gun. The sting had her mind going black, Scarlett almost positive that she'd heard a deep chuckling playing in her mind. It only lasted for a moment before she came back to the situation at hand, but her heart felt as if it had stopped beating.

Bringing her bat up to take a swing at the men who were grabbing Glenn, she only managed to make contact with one of their backs before being thrown against the alley wall from behind. Scarlett turned around and brought up her bat for defence, trying to keep it between her and their attackers. She knew it was a losing battle. While she might be strong, she wasn't as strong as the men that were attacking them. She was most likely faster than them, but she'd missed her chance at being quicker.

 _Or had she?_

In a split decision, Scarlett dropped one of her hands from the bat and reached down to grab her knife. Pulling it out and swinging it in the direction of the man, she managed to catch his cheek with the end of the blade, causing him to stumble backwards. With the small window of opportunity, Scarlett drove the knife into the man's shoulder, to which he let out a loud yell of pain. If the other men hadn't noticed her before, they sure as hell did now. A part of her didn't care, knowing that they'd be taken out anyways. She wanted to go out fighting.

And that's exactly how she did, because before she could pull the knife from the man's shoulder, something heavy hit her on the back of the head and the light of day left her eyes.

* * *

 _ **Daryl's Perspective**_

He was furious. Everything had gone to shit. They were currently in the building where they were supposed to meet back up, the exception being that two of the five weren't present, and another face had been brought into the cluster-fuck of a situation that they were in.

Daryl couldn't help but pace back and forth. Glenn had been taken by the assholes that attacked them while Scarlett had pretty much been knocked out and dragged into the getaway car with him. The younger Dixon brother felt responsible for them both, considering that the only thing he did was put an arrow into one of their attackers' asses. Other than that, the only thing he'd accomplished was getting beat up. The one thing they had going for them at the moment was that they had the guns and one of the gang's own members, the younger boy Daryl had first come across. He was ready to rip into that boy for information like it was the last thing he did.

Rick was holding it together a lot better than he was. If anything, he looked more stressed out than pissed. From what Daryl had seen, the sheriff had a good relationship with both the Asian kid and the redhead, more so Scarlett than Glenn. Daryl had to hand it to Rick; he was good at keeping his composure.

"Those men you were with, we need to know where they went." Rick asked the kid, who was sitting in one of the chairs in front of them.

"I ain't telling you nothing." He replied, causing Daryl's blood to boil even more than before.

"Jesus, man. What the hell happened back there?" T-Dog asked, and Daryl continued to pace back and forth, his eyes fixed on the kid.

"I told you, this little turd and his douche bag friends came out of nowhere and jumped me." He growled back in response.

"You're the one who jumped me, puto. Screaming about trying to find his brother like it's my own damn fault." The kid contended with a sigh, rubbing at his hairline.

"They took Glenn and Scarlett," Daryl reminded the others. "Could have taken Merle too."

"Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle."

Daryl stopped pacing and went straight for the kid. He would have gotten to the little shit too, if Rick hadn't been in the way to hold him back.

"Damn it, Daryl," Rick groaned as he heaved him backwards. "Back off."

The younger Dixon was heaving heavily at this point. All he wanted to do was find his brother and go back home. He didn't want to be apart of this shit anymore, but a part of him couldn't gather the courage to leave. He felt like he owed it to both Scarlett and Glenn to get them back safely. Who knows what that gang was doing to both of them right now?

The anger surged back in his chest once again, which mildly surprised him. He was easily angered, but this anger felt different. It was almost as if he were angry for someone else.

Shaking his head a bit, Daryl walked forward and reached into Glenn's backpack in search of Merle's hand. He owed it to Glenn and Scarlett to rattle the kid a little bit.

"You wanna see what happened to the last guy who pissed me off?" He said, fishing the blue fabric out of the bag and quickly got rid of it, throwing the hand down on the kid's lap. The boy let out a disgusted cry and fell out of the chair, leaning against the nearby wall. Daryl quickly approached him. "Start with the feet this time."

Once again, Rick pulled Daryl away from the kid. He wasn't as upset with it this time, knowing that his job at scaring the kid had worked out pretty well.

"The men you were with took two of our friends," Rick began. "All we want to do is talk to them, see if we can work something out."

That was all it took to get the little shit to lead them to the gang's hideout. It was a mess of a building, but the cover and protection they had made Daryl understand why they'd chosen it in the first place. There was a set of huge heavy doors that he could only assume was the entrance.

"You sure about this?" Daryl heard Rick ask T-Dog, referring to the fact that he'd be their sharpshooter up on the roof if shit hit the fan. He nodded.

"One wrong move, you get an arrow in the ass," Daryl warned the kid. "Just so you know."

"G's gonna take that arrow out of my ass and shove it up yours," the kid replied, using the same tone Daryl had with him. "Just so you know."

"G?" Rick questioned before Daryl could start anything else with the kid.

"Guillermo. He's the man here."

"Okay then," Rick sighed and got up form his cover. "Let's go see Guillermo."

While T-Dog left to go get up on one of the roofs, Daryl, Rick and the kid slowly made their way towards the large doors. With Rick in the front, the kid walked in front of Daryl, who took up the rear with his crossbow pointed into the little shit's back. Rick ushered the boy forward, either to use him as cover or to show the gang that they had him. Daryl didn't know or care.

Approaching the doors carefully, the two men had their guns at the ready. A large, horrid sound rang out as the large set of doors opened up, revealing multiple men, though only one of them stepped into the light at first. Daryl could only assume this was the gang leader who was in charge of the shit going on.

"You okay, little man?" Guillermo asked calmly, looking at the kid.

"They're gonna cut off my feet, carnal." The little shit mumbled.

Guillermo turned his attention to Rick.

"Cops do that?" He asked the former sheriff.

"Not him," the kid explained, ushering over at Daryl. "This redneck puto here. He cut off some dude's hand, man. He showed it to me."

"Shut up." Daryl demanded, only mildly regretting using that scare tactic on the little runt.

"Hey, that's that vato right there, homes!" One of the men stepped out into the light, Daryl immediately recognizing him as one of the men who'd attacked them in the alley. He was also the one who Scarlett had stabbed in the shoulder. Daryl fought back the urge to smile.

"He shot me in the ass with an arrow?" The man continued, pointing a gun at Daryl. The younger Dixon has almost forgotten about that.

"Chill, ese, chill," Guillermo commanded, signalling for the man to lower the gun. "This true? He wants Miguelito's feet? That's pretty sick, man."

"We were hoping more for a calm discussion." Rick jumped in, attempting to steer the conversation away from where it was heading.

"That hillbilly jumps Felipe's little cousin, beats on him, threatens to cut off his feet, Felipe gets an arrow in the ass and your red haired lady stabs him in the shoulder, and you want a calm discussion?" Guillermo lists off, looking unimpressed with the suggestion. "You fascinate me."

"Heat of the moment," Rick defended, eyeing the man carefully. "Mistakes were made on both sides."

"Who's that dude to you anyways? You don't look related."

"He's one of our group, more or less. I'm sure you have a few like him."

Daryl could tell that things weren't changing for the better, wanting to steer the conversation to something else.

"You got my brother in there?" Daryl questioned, his crossbow still held high.

"Sorry, we're fresh out of white boys," Guillermo replied. "But I've got Asian and a ginger. You interested?"

"I have one of yours, you have two of mine," Rick began. "Sounds like more than fair."

"Don't sound even to me," the leader replied. "Your girl and the hillbilly injured some of my people. Where's the compensation for their pain and suffering? More to the point, where's my bag of guns?"

"Guns?" Rick questioned.

"The bag Miguel saw in the street. The bag Felipe and Jorge were going back to get," he explained calmly. "That bag of guns."

"You're mistaken."

"I don't think so."

"About it being yours," Rick clarified. "It's my bag of guns."

"The bag was in the street. Anybody could come around and say it was theirs. I'm supposed to take your word?" Guillermo asked, narrowing his eyes. "What's to stop my people from unloading on you right here and now and I take what's mine?"

Daryl could feel each muscle in his body tense up, the adrenaline ready to explode if things turned out like their leader had suggested. He was too tired for this shit; he just wanted to get out of the city.

"You could do that," Rick answered calmly, turning to their left. "Or not."

Taking a quick look for himself, Daryl spotted T-Dog up on the roof with the rifle pointed right down in the center of it all. His sights were probably right on the leader's forehead.

Guillermo let out a sigh, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Oye!" He called, looking up at the top of the small building.

Everyone turned their attention upwards, Daryl's own eyes falling on four figures, two of which had bags over their heads. It was obvious who it was, but the two men took the bags off their heads anyways, revealing both Scarlett and Glenn. With their mouths duct taped shut, Glenn looked anxious and worried with the situation.

Scarlett looked absolutely furious. It startled Daryl a bit, seeing the red head look so angry. She had a welt on her cheekbone from when one of the gang members decked her in the face. It was one thing to mess with a man, but messing with a woman didn't sit well at all in Daryl's stomach. Especially a woman like Scarlett. He'd seen the way she'd held her own in the alley when they were attacked. She was fast and diligent, obviously not afraid of getting her hands dirty. Until then, he'd thought she'd been a witty, know-it-all, but he'd been wrong.

Daryl looked back down at Rick and saw the confliction in his eyes.

"I see two options," Guillermo continued. "You come back with Miguel and my bag of guns, everybody walks. Or you come back locked and loaded, we'll see which side spills more blood."

* * *

 _ **Scarlett's Perspective**_

It was difficult for Scarlett to describe how she was feeling. Her head, for one, was pounding from being punched in the face as well as being knocked out. A splitting pain ran across her cheekbone where she had been hit, though her and Glenn's attackers had given her some ice to bring the swelling down, which she found a bit odd. Other than all of that, they hadn't harmed her. Hopefully they were doing the same with Glenn.

However, there was uneasiness in her stomach that refused to go away. She couldn't help but think back to what had happened in the alley. Not about them being attacked, but what had happened the moment she'd been hit. The darkness she'd experienced, the low laughter that reached her ears. She was sure that none of the men had been laughing at the time, coming to the conclusion that the whole thing had occurred inside head. Something that came from the dark corners of her mind, and she'd seen a snippet of it. What worried her was that the laugh had been familiar, painfully familiar, and the fact that something of the sort came from inside her mind paralyzed her.

"Hey. Lady, you okay?"

Taking a moment to refocus her eyes, Scarlett looked around at her surroundings. A small white room graced her irises as she sat in a chair in the middle of it. Her hands were still bound but she wasn't physically tied to her seat, which surprised her. There was still tape over her mouth; she could feel it pressed against her lips. The leader of the group, Guillermo, stood crouched in front of her chair. She guessed he had been the one to ask her the question.

"I'm gonna take the tap off, alright?" The man said, reaching forward to do as he said. Scarlett unconsciously moved away from the action, but froze when he finally grabbed a corner of the tape and ripped it from her mouth.

Pursing her lips together to avoid letting out any verbal cues of pain, she tried her best to avoid narrowing her eyes in displeasure.

"Where's Glenn?" Scarlett said after the pain dispersed.

"The Asian? In the other room." The man stated calmly.

"I want to see him."

The leader could tell that there was no room for argument, she could see it in his face. Sending a quick look to the man by the door, the guard went to go get him. There was a pause in conversation and Scarlett attempted to figure out how she wanted to play the situation.

"You did quite the work on one of my men," the leader continued. "Almost took out another's back with that bat of yours."

"Your men did quite the work on my head and face."

"It was in self defence."

"Same thing for me," Scarlett replied with a monotone voice. "Your men were beating up one of my people."

"Only because he attacked one of ours."

"Daryl's a hothead, but he didn't hurt the kid."

"Daryl? Is that the hick's name?"

Scarlett bit her tongue. While she was sure that letting Daryl's name slip wasn't the best thing, she figured it wouldn't make their situation any worse for the time being.

She wouldn't admit it, but him calling Daryl a hick bothered her too.

"And what is your name, exactly?" The man questioned, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"You first."

The man appeared to be fighting back the urge to smile at her request.

"My name is Guillermo. I run things here." The man said to her, patiently waiting for her response as well.

"Scarlett." She stated simply.

"That's a good name for you."

Before she could reply to his comment, the door was thrown open and the guard from before walked into the room, Glenn right behind him. Scarlett met his eyes immediately and he appeared to be without visible injuries, though he looked rather horrified by the welt on her face. She could tell by the way his eyes widened.

"Christ, Scarlett. Did they do that to you?" Glenn demanded as he was placed in one of the other chairs.

"Back in the alley, yeah," she replied, eyeing Guillermo and his men. "But believe it or not, they're giving me ice for it."

"How nice of them." Glenn answered sarcastically.

"Are you okay?" Scarlett asked, worry in her voice.

"Besides my back hurting from taking a blow from a bat and the mild burning of my mouth from the duct tape? Yeah I'm fine."

A sigh of relief left her mouth. While she knew Glenn was being witty, she was glad that he wasn't suffering from anything else at the moment.

"You two seem close. You together?" Guillermo questioned.

Eyebrows shooting upwards and mouth falling open in speechless surprised, both Scarlett and Glenn looked over at each other in disbelief.

"N-no, no, no. It's not like that-" Glenn began to ramble nervously, but Scarlett cut him off with a bit of a laugh.

"Just friends. We met only a few days ago." She replied, laughter bubbling up from out of nowhere. Glenn seemed to pout a bit.

"Hey, don't laugh. Would it really be that bad to be with me?"

"I'm sorry," she said, trying to calm herself down. "No, I'm sure it wouldn't, Glenn. You've got your own charms. I see you as a brother is all, that's why I'm laughing."

While still pouting a bit, Glenn seemed satisfied with her answer. It was almost like they'd forgotten the situation they were in, because the both of them quickly regained their composure when Scarlett looked over at Guillermo. The leader of the other group looked mildly confused by their interaction, sending a glance to the guard by the door that appeared just as perplexed as the leader did.

Before any form of conversation could be held form that point, a man burst into the room looking quite out of breath. Scarlett realized that it was the man she'd stabbed in the alley and immediately felt her body go ridged.

"G, Gilbert is having trouble breathing again. Could you give me a hand with calming him down?" The man asked. "Also, Agnes is due to take her medicine."

"You can't do it yourself?" Guillermo asked calmly.

"My hands are full and all the men are busy looking after the other elders."

Scarlett found their conversation odd. The talk of medicine and elderly people had her questioning what kind of place they were running. She couldn't help but vocalize her confusion.

"What's going on?"

Guillermo and the man she'd stabbed both looked over at her in surprise. The wounded man appeared a bit startled to be near her, either by anger or fear. She couldn't tell which one.

"None of your business." The wounded man snarled at her.

"Felipe, chill," Guillermo commanded, giving his man a harsh look before turning to Scarlett. "Why do you ask, chika?"

"I ask because it sounds like you're running some sort of medical care centre here," she explained, looking between the two men. "Am I correct?"

"Why would you care?"

Scarlett glanced over at Glenn for affirmation, and her friend simply shrugged.

"I was a paramedic before all this started," she informed them, not missing how their eyes widened slightly. "I'll give you a hand with the elderly, if you need it, but only if you let my group and I walk free from here when they come back for Glenn and I."

"Depends if your leader gives us what we asked for." Guillermo replied right away, but she could tell that the revelation of her occupation before the apocalypse had faltered his stance on the situation.

"Look, I'm trying to do this out of the goodness of my heart, alright? We don't want any trouble, we never wanted any to begin with," Scarlett explained, feeling a bit frustrated. "Just let me help out a bit. I'm sure if you spoke with Rick about what you've got going on here, he would gladly give you a few guns."

The two men looked at each other in contemplation, debating whether or not to accept her help. It was obvious that they needed it, but if they were willing to make the deal, Scarlett didn't know.

Surprisingly, it didn't take the two men much time to decide. Before she knew it, Scarlett was being removed from her restraints and ushered towards the door.

"Glenn comes too. I'll need his help."

Guillermo didn't look too pleased by her last minute request, but nonetheless complied with her wishes and Glenn was free to go with her. The two were brought down multiple hallways and passed by a few rooms holding elderly people in beds. Some were taking medicine while others were being read to by visitors. It was surreal to Scarlett, that these men were simply protecting those who couldn't protect themselves. If Rick got a look at this, she knew he'd be blown away.

Entering one she could only assume was one of the large rooms in the building; Scarlett was lead in the direction of an old man who appeared to be having trouble breathing.

"He's having an asthma attack." The man she'd attacked muttered.

"Do you have a puffer for him?" She questioned, walking forward to take a look at the older gentleman.

"We should, but we'll need to go take a look," Guillermo sighed. "Do you think you can…?"  
"Absolutely."

And with that, they were off to work. Guillermo and the man she'd stabbed, Filipe, went searching for his puffer while Scarlett and Glenn stayed behind to try and help out as much as they could. Spending the majority of her time doing breathing exercises with the older man who was in the middle of an asthma attack, Scarlett managed to calm him down enough to breathe somewhat properly once again. Guillermo and Filipe quickly returned with the puffer and both her and Glenn were swept off to other patients.

After icing a woman's bruised bone, administrating a few shots of insulin to a select number of patients with diabetes, treating a few non-bite related fevers, and giving out a handful of pain medication, Scarlett felt right in her element. Helping people was what she did best, and in a way, it helped ease the anxiousness that was in her system from earlier. Being constantly on her feet didn't bother her much, she'd learned to deal with it, but she could tell that Glenn was drained to the core. The few times she'd helped the occasional person to the washroom, she'd spotted him in a few rooms doing his own share of help, the fatigue evident on his face.

"Chika, you think you can help give out food?" Filipe called to her from down the hall as she was on her way to another room.

"Yeah, of course." She replied, jogging down the hall and into the kitchen area where the man was.

Once she was there, he gave her a quick look before turning his attention to the food locker in front of them.

"Alright, we don't have much but we need to feed them what we can," he explained, reaching into the hanger and pulling out a few cans of soup. "They don't eat a lot, but they need to have half a can each. If they can manage that and there's more left, we'll give seconds."

Without another word, the two got to work pouring the cans into one large pot. Roughly twenty cans of soup later and a boiling pot, Felipe began filling bowls and Scarlett got ready to take them out to the elderly.

"By the way, I'm sorry for stabbing you in the alley." She spoke up as she grabbed a few bowls and balanced them in her arms.

"I'm sorry one of the men gave you a deck to the face," he replied. "I say we're even."

"Hardly. There's a difference between getting stabbed and getting punched."

"True, but you helping out makes up from it."

She supposed he had a point and gave him a quick smile of thanks, which he returned before she slipped out of the kitchen and down the hall. Sadly, she couldn't bring too many bowls with her at once, so a lot of back tracking to the kitchen had to be done. Felipe had left her in charge of the soup, going off to god knows where. She assumed Guillermo had called for him and continued doing what she was instructed to.

Once finished with the food and in the midst of changing an older woman's sheets for her, Scarlett heard multiple voices coming from the main room down the hall. She found it odd, considering that the place was usually pretty quiet. After finishing with the sheets, Scarlett made her way down the hallway into the larger room, spotting Daryl and T-Dog almost immediately, with Rick standing off to the side with Guillermo. It was the former sheriff who saw her first, an evident sigh leaving the man as he walked away from Guillermo and over to her, embracing her in a tight hug.

"Thank god you're alright," Rick muttered, pulling away to get a closer look at her bruised cheekbone. "You are okay, right?"

"I'm alright, they've been giving me ice for it," Scarlett explained, nodding at Guillermo in thanks as he approached them. "And you, Rick? You okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, we're fine."

"Your chika here was a huge help to us," Guillermo said fondly to Rick, handing Scarlett a bag of ice for her face. "It was as if Dios had brought her to us himself. Though, I wish it were under different circumstances."

"As do I." Rick replied calmly.

"Let's go have a talk. You'll come with us, won't you?" Guillermo asked, looking over at Scarlett who gave him a quick nod. "Wonderful. Bring your men, too."

Rick called over to the rest of their little group, Glenn reacting first, followed by Daryl and T-Dog. Scarlett gave Glenn a pat on the back, to which he attempted to give her a tired smile in return.

"God damn, Scarlett. Your face okay?" T-Dog asked as he approached them as they all turned to follow Guillermo and Rick out of the main room.

"Hurts a bit," she replied honestly. "But it's alright."

"Like hell it's alright," Daryl grumbled, taking Scarlett by surprise. "One of his men straight up blindsided you. That was dirty, even for them."

"Well I straight up stabbed one of them in the shoulder, so…"

"Yeah, but he had it coming."

Scarlett couldn't help but chuckle at Daryl, even though the man was serious with his words. He was right; she did everything in self-defence. Not like she felt all that guilty, considering that they did attack her first. She apologized to Filipe and that was the end of it.

Continuing down the hallway and making a left, the six of them entered an unoccupied room that was much similar to the one where Scarlett had been tied up in. Guillermo leaned against the table in the middle while the rest of men hovered by the door. Scarlett, on the other hand, stood right in front of the opposing leader with Rick by her side.

"What about the rest of your crew?" Rick questioned suddenly, but Guillermo had an answer ready.

"The vatos trickle in to check on their parents, their grandparents," he explained. "They see how things are and most decide to stay. It's a good thing too. We need the muscle. The people we've encountered since things fell apart, the worst kinds of plunderers, the kind that take by force."

"That's not who we are." Rick stated clearly.

"How was I to know? My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage…appearances."

"Guess the world changed." T-Dog muttered aloud.

"No," Guillermo disagreed. "It's the same as it ever was. The weak get taken. So we do what we can here. The vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city. But most can't even get to the bathroom by themselves, so that's just a dream. Still, it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something. So we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut except for one entrance. The vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and we wait."

It made perfect sense to Scarlett now why they kept a front with all the men. Like he'd said, the weak get taken, and by keep a tough appearance, outsiders will think twice before causing any sort of trouble.

"The people here, they all look to me now," Guillermo continued with a shrug. "I don't even know why."

"Because they can." Rick replied calmly, pausing for a moment to stare at the other man. Without a word, the former sheriff began pulling a few guns from their gun bag and handed them to Guillermo. Scarlett held back the urge to smile, content with the fact that she'd called that Rick would gladly give over a few guns to them if Guillermo simply took the time to explain things. While they did need all the guns they could get, giving a few away to good people who needed them didn't seem like that bad of thing to do. With a firm shake between the two men and a few goodbyes, the group headed out to hopefully make their way back before sundown.

"Admit it," Glenn scoffed slight as the five of them walked on the outskirts of the city. "You only came back to Atlanta for the hat."

"Don't tell anyone." Rick replied, holding back a smile and making Scarlett let lose a laugh of her own.

"You've given away half our guns and ammo." Daryl grumbled, obviously not in agreement with sharing the goods with Guillermo and his men.

"Not nearly half." Rick corrected the younger Dixon, though he wasn't having any of it.

"For what? Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously, how long you think they got?"

"How long do any of us?" Scarlett questioned as they all came to a simultaneous halt.

She couldn't believe it. The truck was nowhere in sight and obviously, no longer ready to take them all back to camp. Once again, Scarlett couldn't believe she'd been right about their luck. They'd been through the ringer in Atlanta and this was the final straw. Lady Luck was a bitch.

"Oh my god." Glenn breathed out, the reality of the situation hitting all of them hard.

"Where the hell's our van?" Daryl questioned in utter confusion.

"We left it right there! Who would take it?" Glenn demanded, getting more upset as the seconds went by.

There was only one person in Scarlett's mind who could've been responsible.

"Merle." Rick stated, tone cold and irritated just like how Scarlett felt. Her grip around her bag of ice tightened to the point where she was sure the bag would break open.

"He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp." Daryl muttered, and that's when Scarlett lost it.

Gripping her bag of ice tight in her hand, the red head threw it on the ground in a fit of rage and pure irritation.

"We went all this way to go get the stupid bastard and he ended up being our last screw over for the day. How bloody ironic is that," she hissed, turning and pointing a finger at Daryl. "The next time I see your brother, I'm giving him a black eye and you aren't gonna say shit about it."

Ignoring the surprise in the younger Dixon's eyes, Scarlett turned and began marching off in the direction of the highway. She didn't bother to check to see if they were following her, but when she heard Glenn mumble something about 'being glad to be on her good side', she knew they'd be accompanying her on the long tread back to camp.

* * *

 _Yay chapter done~_

 _I'm glad that I managed to get this out to you guys, I hope it was an okay chapter. I enjoyed writing it quite a lot, though I apologize if there are a few mistakes in the writing. It's almost 4 am here and I keep nodding off lol_

 _Anyways! I'm very excited for the show to come back this Sunday! It'll hopefully give me more of a drive to continue putting out chapters for you all._

 _As always, I hope you're all going well and I'll see you in the next update, whenever that might be :)_

 _All the best,_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


	10. Camp Crisis

_Hey everyone._

 _First things first, I want you all to know that I will never abandon this story. I have too many ideas rolling around in my head to let this story disappear into nothing. Most of you are probably frustrated, I get that, but I hope you still have a little faith in me and continue along this journey with me. I desperately hope that you all can forgive me for my little hiatus. With too much on the mind, my hands struggle to type out the words that my brain wants to get right._

 _In other words, it take a lot of energy to make words go lol._

 _I hope all of you are doing well and that the first few months of 2017 have been kind to you._

 _A warm thank you to Gingerman454, Ivorywhite1434, arujao, xBanhammerx, elljayde, and sweetlilac for following/favouriting the story. The support means the world to me, so thank you very very much. :) (i apologize if I've misspelt any of the usernames or if you recently added the story and I accidentally missed you. It is currently 2 am and I'm dying lol)_

 _For reviews:_

 _djmegamouth: haha I'm glad you enjoyed Scarlett's reaction at the end of the last chapter. I felt it was appropriate for her character lol. Happy to hear you liked the chapter as well!_

 _sweetlilac: It's wonderful to hear that you're enjoying the story so far! I hope to elaborate more on Scarlett's backstory once the story reaches season two. There have been a few hints as to what happened regarding her family life before it was just her and her sister, but things will become more clear in time. Thank you for the support, and welcome to 'Blood in the Cut'!_

 _I truly appreciate everyone's patience with me. This chapter turned out to be much longer than I had anticipated, but I figured you guys deserved something bulkier regarding my absence and all. I can't say that I'm officially off hiatus, but I will do my very best to get up another chapter as soon as I can._

 _Here's the new chapter~_

* * *

The itching in her hands was getting worse. Tired and cold, the night sky provided no comfort to Scarlett or the others, for that matter. She hadn't spoken to the rest of the group for a couple hours now, though her irritation from earlier had melted away a while back. Thinking that she needed time to mull things over, she was proven wrong whenever she tried to look at their situation, or what the world had come to. Her mind would diverge into those dark corners that only held unpleasant thoughts. Thankfully, when the sun disappeared over the horizon and the sky turned dark, her attention was brought to her surroundings, other than what was going on inside her head.

Unconsciously scratching at her hands, Scarlett quickly tore them apart and let out a shaky breath. She needed to wash her hands, the urge much stronger than it usually would be. Then again, since she'd washed her hands so much at the care center back in Atlanta, her old habits were coming back.

Hearing soft talking from behind her, she reached into her backpack and managed to pull out her water bottle with one hand. Tucking Stella under her arm, Scarlett undid the cap on her bottle and poured a small amount on her hands before tossing it back in her bag. She began rubbing the water over the backs of her hands, working it eventually into her palms and fingers. The cool sensation was nice, and while it wasn't the most practical way of cleaning her hands, it helped stop the itching. For the time being, at least.

They had to be close to reaching the camp. Hours of walking had been spent and it was safe to say everyone was getting tired. She didn't need to look over at the group to tell that they were exhausted; she could hear it in their voices.

"Could really use some water right about now."

A quiet scoff left Scarlett's lips at the passive request from behind her. The voice had been a lot louder than the hushed whispers that had been going on for over a half hour now, and intentionally so, because it was specifically directed at her. Leave it to Daryl to demand something even when he was being indirect about it.

Reaching into her bag and fishing the bottle out, Scarlett spun to face the group while continuing to walk backwards. The four men were walking together, the exception being Daryl, who was keeping his distance from the others. They all looked tired to the point of exhaustion and possibly mild irritation, but nowhere near as pissed as she'd been when they left the city. She also noticed that each one of them had been given a rifle or shotgun, most likely to protect themselves from any walkers that roamed in the dark. Glenn had his eyes fixed on the ground beneath them, while T-Dog had his head lolled back, almost as if he were asking the universe why it had made someone as shitty as Merle Dixon. Rick's gaze was facing forward, watching out for any danger. Though when Scarlett had turned around, the former sheriff had glanced over at her in question.

Moving her gaze over to the final member of the four men, Scarlett immediately met Daryl's eyes. The man looked more awake and aware than any of them, which didn't really surprise her. If he was a hunter, than he definitely had the stamina to keep going for long periods of time. His crossbow was thrown over his back and a shotgun remained fastened to his hands.

A moment of silent recognition passed between them before Scarlett chucked the bottle at him, which he managed to catch with one hand. At the sudden movement, Glenn immediately tensed and raised his gun, a startled sound coming from his mouth.

A tired laugh escaped from everyone at the poor guy. While he looked exhausted, Glenn was definitely on edge just like the rest of them.

"Afraid of water bottles too now?" T-Dog teased, to which Glenn let out an exasperated groan.

"You ever been hit with a water bottle? It hurts."

"And you have?"

"You'd be surprised at how angry people got when you got their order wrong."

With a soft smile on her face, Scarlett fell into place beside Rick. He looked just as amused as she felt, but remained quiet as he watched the interaction. A few moments later and the former sheriff looked over at her.

"The swelling's gone down," he began, referring to her injured cheek. "It'll be bruised like hell in a few days though."

"I'm counting on at least three or four different shades to appear." She replied and he gave her a halfhearted smile.

"You seem to be handling it well."

"Well, I've seen a lot worse."

Her chest immediately tensed up. It wasn't exactly a lie, considering she'd seen every sort of injury over the past few years. Rick was giving her a concerned look, which only made her stomach turn in on itself even more. She'd tell him eventually, but now was not the time. Waiting for the man to question her further, it thankfully never came when another voice broke the silence.

"Scar."

She blinked once, then twice. It wasn't a statement, but call of some sort, and it had come from off to her right. Rick appeared a bit surprised as well as they both looked over at Daryl. Once she made eye contact with him, he tossed the water bottle back to her.

That's when Scarlett realized it. Another nickname. Her mouth opened slightly in mild surprise, but the jump in her chest startled her even more. It didn't bother her; she preferred it a lot better than "Raggedy Ann", but she was shocked that he'd actually used her _name_. Well, a part of it at least. It was a normal nickname, no teasing or wit behind it. What was surprising her the most was the fact that Daryl, one of the most closed of members of the group, had given her an actual nickname.

In a way, he kind of reminded her of herself, in terms of being closed off to most. While Daryl was more on the extreme end of the spectrum, she couldn't help but feel that a part of her was right there with him.

Staring down at the water bottle in her hands, Scarlett gave it a quick shake.

"Wow, you actually left me some." She surmised, looking up from the water bottle to the younger Dixon.

"I ain't some greedy asshole, you know." He replied.

"I'm not so sure about the 'asshole' part…" Daryl's eyes narrowed at her humorous remark, earning a quiet yip of laughter from Glenn. As her own smile melted away, she gave him a more sincere response. "But I can tell you're working on it. Can't exactly fault you for that."

A moment of silence passed, leaving the comment up in the air for contemplation. She didn't exactly know how to proceed with the conversation, but opted out with the silence instead.

Apparently even silence wasn't on her side that day.

One of the most disturbing, blood curdling screams Scarlett had ever heard broke through the air and stillness, echoing between the trees around them. She sent Rick an alarmed look, which his dread-ridden eyes returned right back. Multiple voices could be heard yelling off in the distance, the occasional scream and gunshot joining the frenzy of sounds. Scarlett knew immediately that it was coming from the camp, and quickly sprinted off in the direction of the shrieks. She could hear the crunching footsteps of the others by her sides, following her farther into the hills with what felt like lead in their chests. Spotting one of the cars and ducking around it, Scarlett broke through into the clearing.

She'd been worried that it had been Merle who was tearing up the camp, but what was in his place made her wish that it had been the older Dixon instead. At least he was able to partake in some sort of discussion, but there were no words to be shared with the wave of walkers that was currently attacking the camp.

The sound of a rifle firing brought her out of her shock, turning to see Rick shooting in the direction of some walkers. More shots rang out from the rifles their group had brought, making Scarlett pull out her own gun and begin firing at the walkers. Her seven rounds disappeared into the skulls of seven walkers at an alarming rate, switching out the Colt for her bat and going to work.

She couldn't even spare a look to see who was still alive as she swung into the heads of several walkers. Her adrenaline was rushing through her rapidly, causing the blood in her ears to block out all the noise. Spotting one of the few remaining walkers shuffling towards her, Scarlett tightened her grip on Stella and swung as hard as she could. She saw the blood spray up her bat and felt it splash across her face.

When her hearing had come back and her heart rate had settled down, Scarlett could only hear the sound of soft sobs coming from a few people in the camp. She was afraid to turn her gaze away from the tree line, dreading what she would see as a result of this attack. An arm grabbed her shoulder, startling her terribly as her gaze found Glenn's dread ridden eyes. He was huffing horribly, the fear evident as his eyes kept shifting about, looking at all the destruction around them.

She'd been right to fear turning around, for her eyes fell on the sight that everyone had been silently watching. Someone was lying on the ground, neck completely covered in blood and barely alive. When she saw that the one sobbing over the person was Andrea, Scarlett immediately knew who the dying soul was.

Amy's blonde hair was matted with the blood that was leaking out of a huge bite on her neck. Every time she would try and breathe, more of the substance would ooze out onto the ground. Andrea was rubbing a soothing thumb against the younger sister's cheek, but it stopped as soon as Amy's eyes shut, one last breath leaving her body.

"No. Amy. Oh no."

Scarlett wanted to look away, she needed to, but she found her eyes fixed on the body and Andrea's sobbing form. She felt her head tilt to the side, as if her brain was trying to understand what was happening. It was like something out of a nightmare, and the fact that Scarlett couldn't do anything to save the younger girl was even worse. That was the thing about the bite. Even if she stopped all the bleeding and got them back on track, they would end up being a walker regardless.

The other thing was that she could only look at the situation selfishly, as if she were looking at herself in Andrea's place and Victoria in Amy's. And it hurt, not knowing where her sister was, but at least there was a slim chance that she was alive. In Andrea's situation, she just watched her sister die in her arms.

Watching in dread as Andrea began shaking Amy's body and sobbing even worse than before, Scarlett felt her mouth go dry. She felt sick, the chills shaking her body horribly. Somehow managing to take her gaze away, Scarlett saw Rick standing with Carl and Lori, the young boy crying into his father's shirt while his wife was almost petrified. Shane stood off to the side, staring at the mess that used to be their camp. Morales held his family tight while T-Dog and Jacqui looked as if they were going to vomit. Daryl appeared exasperated and depressed at the same time, which Scarlett found to be an odd mixture of emotions, but then again, who was she to judge someone about their emotions when hers were all over the place.

She glanced over at Glenn, who was still beside her, and watched as his face scrunched up in an attempt not to cry. Scarlett didn't know the people here like Glenn and the others did, but if she felt horrific from watching all of this, she couldn't imagine what the others were going through. Being a paramedic, one might think that Scarlett ought to be good at comforting others. In a way, she was, being able to show sympathy and support for people from a safe distance, but when it came to people she cared about or had grown fond of, she didn't have a single clue. Without a word, she placed a hand on Glenn's shoulder, which startled him quite badly, but he nonetheless appeared to appreciate the attempt at comfort even when she felt horrible herself.

How long the two of them stood there, Scarlett didn't have a clue. It could have been seconds, minutes, or hours for all she knew. People started moving around slowly, either to go to bed or try and figure why it was worth it to keep on going, knowing that this outcome could be possible at any moment. All she knew for certain was that there was no way in hell she'd be sleeping tonight.

She also knew that they couldn't leave the camp like this, with the dead and former members of their group lying around. It was morbid and heartbreaking at the same time, and for that reason she knew they had to get started.

At least with the walkers, that is. People would need time to mourn their loved ones.

"Scarlett."

Breaking out of her trance and shifting her eyes over to Rick, she knew that he had the same thing in mind. He didn't look pleased by the idea, but it was something that needed to be done whether they liked it or not.

Giving Glenn a quick squeeze on the shoulder, Scarlett made her way over to the former sheriff.

"We should start burning the dead," she suggested to him, only to receive a mortified and appalled look from Lori. Scarlett's face fell even further. "I'm talking about the walkers, not the recently deceased. I'm not that heartless."

She'd let the comment slip without much of a thought, but her filter for words was gone. Enough had happened today to make even the sanest of people want to dig a grave for themselves.

"Bury the dead and burn the walkers?" Rick asked, eyes tired.

"Let people trickle off to bed first. Everyone's gone through enough tonight."

That's what they did. While it didn't look like people would be getting any sleep, they nonetheless returned to their tents to try. Eventually, the only people left were Rick, Scarlett, Shane, T-Dog and Daryl. However, Andrea was still hunched over Amy's lifeless body and would probably be there all night.

"Only take walkers for now," Shane explained to their small group. "We'll bury our dead in the morning and let everyone give their goodbyes."

* * *

Morning had come not a moment too soon. Scarlett stood near the giant fire they'd made to burn the walkers, watching as about half of them blackened in the flames. They still had more to go, but she was glad that they'd gotten rid of most of them before people returned to the camp from their tents.

Every person that walked by her had bags under their eyes, the lack of sleep evident in the way they behaved. Scarlett herself hadn't gotten a wink of sleep last night, too busy gathering up the walkers for the fire. At the moment, she was the only one by the fire, the exception being Glenn. Rick had gone off to contact Morgan on the radio while Shane was still gathering up the dead with Morales and Daryl. The three men had begun moving the former group members off to the side in their own little grouping. Andrea was still sitting near Amy's body and Scarlett watched as Lori attempted to speak with the blonde, only to receive no response in return.

After a while, Scarlett moved away from the fire and took a seat by Lori, Carl, Shane, Dale and Carol. No one greeted her and she didn't greet anyone either, silently watching as Rick approached their small grouping as well.

"She still won't move?" Rick asked, only for everyone to shake their heads in response.

"She won't even talk to us," Lori stated tiredly. "She's been there all night. What do we do?"

"We can't just leave Amy like that," Shane concluded. "We need to deal with it. Same as the others."

"She's mourning, of course she's unresponsive," Scarlett sighed, running a hand down her good cheek. "I'm sure Andrea is prepared if Amy turns."

" _When_ she turns." Shane corrected, sending Rick a quick look.

"I'll tell her how it is."

Scarlett let out a huff of air. One needed to be careful when dealing with someone who lost family, especially when they were reacting the way Andrea was. While she was quiet for now, the anger would eventually emerge, either at others or herself.

"Andrea-"

Before Rick could get another word out, Andrea looked up and pointed her pistol right in the man's face. The gun was locked and loaded, meaning the woman wasn't afraid to use it. Scarlett and everyone around her stood up in fear.

"I know how the safety works." Andrea reminded him coldly.

Rick gave her a few small nods and began to back away.

"Alright. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

When Rick was far enough back, Andrea put the gun down and turned her undivided attention back to her dead sister. Rick turned back to the rest of them, the worry easy to on his face. Without a sound, Daryl showed up in Scarlett's peripheral view. She hadn't heard him approach at all.

"Y'all can't be serious," he said, pickaxe thrown over his shoulder. "Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb."

"What do you suggest?" Rick asked, a bit irked by Daryl's tone.

"Take the shot," the younger Dixon stated. "Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

It was at that point when Scarlett stood up from her spot, unable to even think about what Daryl was suggesting without her chest tightening with dread. She didn't say a word, worried that her fatigue and emotions would get the better of her. With the mood she was in, she knew that things would only turn into an argument.

"Where are you going?" Shane asked, but Scarlett didn't answer as she made her way over to where Glenn and T-Dog were.

The two men were getting ready to throw another walker into the flames, though Glenn's fatigue was getting the better of him. With his grip on the walker slipping, Scarlett gently moved her friend out of the way to take a hold of the walker's legs. Her muscles ached angrily but she managed to toss the walker into the flames with T-Dog.

While T-Dog went to grab another body, Scarlett slowly approached Glenn. Her friend looked shattered from the attack last night, the fatigue that came from their trek back to camp not helping the situation either. Like an empty battery, Glenn was going to be useless if he didn't take time to recharge.

"How're you hanging in there?" She asked softly, peering into his face. He locked eyes with her and remained silent for a moment.

"Not good," he replied halfheartedly. "I mean, nobody's doing good right now…"

"I know. It was a stupid question," Scarlett sighed, looking down at the group before gazing over at the pile of walker bodies that needed to be thrown into the flames. "I feel bad that I never got a chance to really know anyone in the group. Now, with some of them, I never will."

"It's probably better that way. Then it won't hurt so much when they're gone."

Scarlett looked over at Glenn once again, his eyes brimmed with tears that were threatening to fall at any moment. It broke her heart, seeing him so beaten down and destroyed by what happened. It was the natural reaction to something so horrid, but it was difficult to see the pain on his face.

"Can I give you a hug?" She asked him. "I don't give them out often but…"

He didn't appear surprised by the request, either too numb or tired to have a reaction. Though when he nodded his head softly, Scarlett draped her arms over his shoulders and gave him a squeeze. Glenn returned the gesture feebly, which didn't bother her. She was there to give him comfort, not the other way around.

"What are you guys doing?" Glenn spoke up suddenly, Scarlett separating away from her friend to spot Daryl and Morales dragging one of the deceased group members over to their fire. "This is for geeks. Our people go over there."

"What's the difference? They're all infected." Daryl argued, continuing to drag the body over.

Scarlett felt her frown deepen and her eyes narrow.

"Our people go in that row over there," Glenn reiterated, much more defensively than before. "We don't burn them! We bury them. Understand? Our people go in the row over there."

Both Daryl and Morales were shocked by Glenn's outburst, as was Scarlett. She hadn't seen him worked up like that before and by the looks of it, neither had the others.

"You reap what you sow!" Daryl called back as he and Morales dragged the body away.

"You know what? Shut up, man." Morales yelled at him.

"Y'all left my brother for dead," the younger Dixon snapped back. "You had this coming."

Scarlett's hands twitched. He couldn't mean that, couldn't seriously feel that way. A bunch of innocent people had just died, and that's what he had to say? Daryl was just starting to shake himself of that 'asshole' title in her mind, but a whole other set of words were coming to mind now. If anything, she was just sad. Sad that this was how he decided to act. While they'd been in Atlanta, he'd shown her signs that he was truly, deep down, a good human being. She was trying to hold on to that belief now, though it was hanging on by a thread.

Her grip on Stella was turning her knuckles white while her teeth were clenched together to where they might shatter under the pressure. She was trying her hardest to remain calm.

"A walker got him! A walker bit Jim!"

Head snapping and eyes widening, Scarlett watched Jacqui march away from a startled and worried Jim. Everyone in camp had turned their attention to the scene unraveling before them and slowly approached. All Scarlett knew was that things were taking an even deeper plunge into the shit storm.

"I'm okay." Jim managed to say, though the conviction fell short.

"Show it to us." Daryl demanded, pickaxe in hand.

With a quick turn, Jim reached down and picked up the shovel that he'd been using for the majority of the morning. Things were definitely going to get worse.

In a flurry of words and warnings from everyone, T-Dog managed to grab Jim from behind, causing the man to drop the shovel. Daryl moved forward and pulled Jim's shirt up, revealing a bite on his abdomen. It was soaked with blood, quite obviously fresh and received from the night before.

"I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay."

Jim's soft chanting of the words made everyone back away even further than before. A sigh left Scarlett's lips; worry flooding her system as she watched the infected man look around for any sort of help. She was worried for Jim, scared for him even. From the reaction of the people in camp, they didn't look like they wanted to take any chances. While they were correct in being cautious, it was only going to make Jim feel worse.

Placing Stella against the RV, Scarlett slowly approached Jim.

"Holloway." Shane warned, but she put up a hand in a dismissing manner.

Coming to a stop in front of the bitten man, she gazed up at him and gave him a look of sympathy. The man was hesitant and the presence of fear was easy to spot in his eyes.

"Come on, let's sit you by the RV."

Ushering Jim under the shade of the RV, Scarlett made him sit on one of the coolers. His eyes were still fixed on the rest of the group members, with his shoulders tensed and figure stiff. Feeling the gaze of the others on both her and Jim, Scarlett sent the bitten man a kind look before glancing back at the others, who were now standing around in a circle most likely wondering how to proceed.

She gradually approached them.

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girl's and be done with it." Daryl suggested, firm on his statement.

"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane spat back in response.

"Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it."

"I hate to say it. I never thought I would but maybe Daryl's right." Dale muttered, which shocked Scarlett a bit.

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." Rick denied the old man's claim.

"I'm not suggesting-"

"He's sick. A sick man," Rick stated harshly, cutting off Dale. "We start down that road, where do we draw the line?"

"The line's pretty clear," Daryl countered. "Zero tolerance for walkers, - or to be."

Scarlett had begun chewing on her thumb in thought. They couldn't do much for Jim at this point except ease his way towards his transformation. From what she understood, either from what she'd seen back at the hospital or afterwards, it took a while before the change happened. She couldn't say how long, considering that she'd never seen the transformation in person before, but she knew they had at least twelve hours, half of which they'd already spent not knowing about the bite.

Unless there was a cure, Jim's fate was already sealed.

"Scarlett, what're you thinking?"

Glancing up to meet Rick's eyes, she couldn't help but frown softly. There was something they could try. She'd heard about it on the radio before the signal crashed and had even discussed it with Morgan and Dwayne.

If the group would be up for it, she didn't know.

"What about the C.D.C?" She suggested, crossing her arms. "While I don't know if we'll be able to get Jim there in time, it's worth a shot going anyways. They might be working on a cure."

"I heard that too," Shane muttered. "Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell."

"What if the C.D.C. is still up and running?" Rick questioned, obviously sharing Scarlett's interest in the facility.

"Man, that is a stretch right there."

"Why? If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the C.D.C. at all costs, wouldn't they?"

"I think it's our best shot." Scarlett informed the group.

"Shelter, protection-"

"Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the army base," Shane cut off his best friend. "Fort Benning."

"That's one hundred miles in the opposite direction." Lori pointed out with uncertainty.

"That is right, but it's away from the hot zone," Shane continued. "Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there."

"The military were on the front lines of this thing," Scarlett countered. "They got overrun. We've all seen that."

"The C.D.C. is our best choice and Jim's only chance." Rick concluded.

Scarlett was glad that Rick was on her side for this decision. For the most part, he always had been, but when it came to difficult and life-threatening decisions like the one they needed to make right now, she was even more relieved.

For the most part, whatever Shane had pointed out about For Bennings, the C.D.C. had it as well. The defense of the building was almost impenetrable and was created to deal with the world's worst diseases, hence the name 'Centre from Disease Control'.

"You go looking for aspiring, do what you need to do," Daryl stated, slowly backing up away from the group and turning to Jim. "Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!"

Scarlett was glad that she'd been standing further back from the group and closer to Jim. Once again, she was trying to understand where Daryl was coming from, but she wanted to keep Jim alive for now. While she felt the same in regards to keeping him alive for moral reasons, she wanted to observe as much of the transformation process as she could for future reference. It was a bit selfish on her part, but she didn't care if it would help her save others down the road.

Since she was closest to Jim, Scarlett didn't hesitate to pull her gun out and point it at the younger Dixon, Rick throwing up his own pistol only moments later.

Daryl froze with the axe still hanging over his shoulder, ready to swing into Jim's skull. He slowly lowered the weapon and sent Scarlett an annoyed look.

"We don't kill the living." Rick stated from behind, Shane quickly stepping in front of Jim as well.

"That's funny coming from a man who just pointed a gun at my head." Daryl snipped back.

"We may disagree on some things, not on this," Shane stated firmly. "You put it down."

Scarlett could see Daryl clenching his jaw in annoyance, his gaze shifting from Shane to her. His eyes were questioning and held a challenge to them that seemed to irritate Scarlett even more.

"What do you got to say about all this?" He asked her, the slightest amount of a taunting tone reaching his words.

"You don't want to know. I've been keeping my mouth shut all morning." She replied honestly.

"I asked the question. Tell me."

"I think you've been an asshole all morning," she admitted to him calmly. "I'm trying to see where you're coming from, and I know you're not particularly close with this group, but just because you're not doesn't mean you get to walk around like a douche bag while others are mourning their family and friends. With Jim, we keep him alive. Not just because we don't kill the living, but I need to see how this thing progresses so I can learn about it and possibly save your ass one day. If something bad happens, which it won't, I will take responsibility. If it happens, I give you permission to rip me apart, but until then, please just trust us. At the very least, trust me."

Without breaking eye contact with him, Scarlett lowered her gun, putting the safety back on and slipping it back into the waistband of her pants. It was difficult to read Daryl's expression, his facial features morphing into either irritation or hurt. She was waiting for him to talk back, to insult everyone or her directly, but no words left his mouth. He simply slammed the axe into the ground and walked away.

Watching as the younger Dixon disappeared into the tree line, Scarlett was annoyed that another divide had been placed between him and the group. She was just starting to believe he wasn't that bad of a guy.

Scarlett glanced over at Rick, who appeared just as exasperated as she felt. The former sheriff moved to Jim's side, grabbing the man by the arm and lifting him off the cooler.

"Come with me."

"Where are you taking me?" Jim questioned wearily.

"Somewhere safe."

Silently following the two men into the RV, Scarlett helped Rick with Jim, getting him situated along the cushioned bench near the back of the vehicle. Dale had followed them in, peering from the doorway at the situation at hand.

"Thanks for letting us use the RV." Rick stated, looking back at the older man.

"Yeah. Of course."

"Could one of you go grab my pack? It's sitting somewhere near the coolers." Scarlett requested, watching from the corner of her eyes as the former sheriff nodded and exited the RV.

She was watching Jim closely. The man was already starting to sweat profusely, which she doubted was a result of the stress and heat outside. Small beads of sweat had formed on his forehead, which he quickly wiped away. It was only then that she noticed that she was making the man uncomfortable with the staring. Scarlett sent him an apologetic look.

"Dale, would you happen to have a cloth that you could wet?" She asked, turning her attention away from the sick man.

"I'll go have a look."

"Thank you."

As Dale left the RV, Rick reentered with her bag in hand, carefully placing it on the floor beside her as she gave him a small thank you as well.

"Can I do anything else for you?"

"No, that's enough," Scarlett muttered, deep in thought. "You go be with the rest of the group. I have a feeling Shane's going to have an earful for you, so it would be better to go defuse that bomb before it gets any bigger."

"You don't think leaving the camp was a mistake, do you?" Rick asked, eyeing her carefully.

"No. Who knows how much worse it could have been if we hadn't showed up with the guns."

It was easy to see that Rick was having conflicting regarding their trip back to the city. The last thing he needed was for someone to make him feel worse about something he was already internally debating over, but the sooner he had a talk with Shane, the better.

With a final glance, Rick turned and left her alone in the RV with Jim.

"You're going to analyze me like a science project, aren't you?" The man questioned, the dread in his voice fairly obvious.

"That's not my intention, Jim," she sighed, giving him a soft look. "I want to hear about what you're feeling and try to help you through this. I'll just be gathering information in the process."

"Well, I'd rather spend my final hours with anyone but Dixon at this point. So do what you need to do."

She was thankful for his consent and quickly got to work, pulling out her first aid along with her notes. The first thing she did was clean up his bite, which Jim denied having done, but Scarlett didn't listen and wrapped up the injury regardless. Dale came back with a wet cloth and handed it over to her, which she placed on the infected man's forehead, only for him to let out a sigh of mild relief. Scarlett then proceeded to ask him a few questions regarding what he was feeling. The symptoms were the same as the ones she'd observed back at the hospital, but this time she inquired more about the bite rather than reactions to it. Jim told her that the skin around the bite burned horribly, almost as if needles were being stuck into his skin over and over. Scarlett had also noted that the skin around the bite looked almost grey before she'd bandaged him up.

Every thirty minutes she'd ask him about any new symptoms that had popped up or that he was feeling. Each time he claimed to become more feverish, dizzier, and thirstier than the time before, to which Scarlett jotted down. Sitting on a bench near Jim's makeshift bed, she'd somehow managed to stay awake for the first two hours, the occasional person coming in to check on both her and Jim. However, it was after that where she'd fallen asleep in her seat. For how long, she wasn't exactly sure. She only came to when she heard Jim muttering softly to himself.

"No. No. No. Not this. No."

Without shifting her body, Scarlett gazed up at Jim to see him looking around the RV almost restlessly, his eyes fastening shut and springing open the next. The man was awake, his hands clenching and unclenching as he ran them down his face. He looked even paler than before.

"Jim."

The man looked over at her with a start, eyes wide and mouth agape. He was definitely hallucinating.

"What do you see?" Scarlett asked quietly, leaning forward to grab the bottle of water that Dale had gotten for him roughly an hour ago. Undoing the cap, she carefully brought the water to Jim's mouth and he drank up the liquid quickly. It was only when she placed the water back down that he gave her an answer.

"I'm seeing things." He mumbled, blinking harshly.

"What kinds of things?"

"Dead things."

"Walkers?"

"Yes."

"What are they doing?"

"Growling and snarling at me."

She'd known about the hallucinations before this, but it was good to know what the man was seeing. While she couldn't tell if everyone hallucinated the same things, she was sure that the events of the night before weren't helping his mental state, regardless of the bite itself.

"Fever?"

"Worse."

"Dizziness?"

"Bad."

"Nausea?"

"Not good."

Scarlett put down her notes and picked up the wet cloth from before, pouring what was left of Jim's water onto the rag. Reaching forward, she began dabbing it against the man's face in the hopes of cooling him down. There wasn't much she could do for him at this point except ease the pain a little.

The door of the RV opened, to which Scarlett glanced up to see both Lori and Rick approaching. The couple looked exhausted, both covered in dirt and sweat from being under the gaze of the blaring sun outside.

"How's everything going?" Rick inquired, glancing between the Jim and the ginger.

"Not great." Scarlett replied honestly.

"You need anything?" Lori asked Jim as she leaned against one of the walls.

"Uh…water. Could use more water." The man answered faintly.

"I'll get some."

Without another word, she turned and left the RV. Scarlett moved over so that Rick could join her on the bench. He sent her a quick look as if he were asking if she were okay, and she replied with a nod.

"You save a grave for me?" Jim asked once Rick was seated.

"Nobody wants that." He replied with a sigh.

"It's not about what you want," the infected man stated. "That, uh, that sound you hear, that's God laughing while you make plans."

Scarlett remained quiet and so did Rick for a moment, obviously trying to choose his words carefully.

"What I want, Jim, if-" Rick began, letting out a sigh. "If God allows, is to get you some help."

When it appeared as if Jim had a reply, his thoughts were interrupted by a coughing fit. Scarlett furrowed her eyebrows, quickly picking up the small garbage can by their feet and giving it to Jim. The man spat out either vomit or blood, Scarlett wasn't sure as she quickly grabbed her notes and scribbled down a few words.

"Watch the mangroves," Jim stated as he put the pail down. "Their roots will gouge the whole boat. You know that, right? The both of you?"

Scarlett could feel Rick's eyes glancing at her but decided to ignore his stare.

"Amy is there swimming," Jim continued, looking at them mindlessly. "You'll watch the boat, right? You said you would."

"I'll watch the boat," Rick answered, rubbing at his temple. "Don't worry."

The grip on Scarlett's pen had loosened and had grown weak. She felt sick to the stomach, as if she'd been hit by a car and was left on the street. She supposed that a part of her hoped that there would be a way to help Jim, but the reality was that there was nothing they could do.

And Scarlett hated herself for it.

"We'll leave you to get some rest." Rick stated, standing up from the bench and ushering Scarlett to come with him. Pausing slightly, she began picking up her things and throwing them in her bag. Standing up, she glanced down at Jim.

"If you need anything, don't be afraid to yell for it okay?"

The man gave a weak nod as he closed his tired eyes. Scarlett swallowed harshly before turning and following Rick through the RV. The former sheriff had obviously caught on to her shift in mood, sending her a worried glance but waved him off as they approached the door.

"I guess I'll just add it to the list of habits that I'm breaking whether I like it or not."

Rick and Scarlett came to a stop at the entrance of the RV to spot both Lori and Shane, who appeared to be in the midst of a heated discussion. Scarlett fought back the urge to raise an eyebrow.

"What habits?" Rick asked as they exited the RV.

"I'm just talking about my need for a plan, man," Shane stated, though Scarlett had a hard time believing the man's words. "So what is it? Are we leaving or not? Maybe y'all just want to stay here. We could hang some more tin cans."

"We can't stay here. We both know that." Rick replied immediately.

"I was just telling Shane I think we should trust your gut." Lori spoke up, glancing between the two men and the ginger.

There was a long, uncomfortable pause in conversation that made Scarlett immediately want to go back into the RV and sit with Jim for another three hours. Shane looked silently furious with the way things were turning out.

"Let's go do our sweep." Shane finally said, his tone rather short.

Without a reply, Rick gave a slight nod and went with Shane through the camp and into the tree line. When the two men disappeared from sight, Scarlett immediately turned to look at Lori.

"Is everything okay?" Scarlett asked, eyeing the older woman carefully.

"Not really, but when is anything okay anymore?" She threw back, to which Scarlett sighed.

"Fair enough."

Figuring that she wasn't going to get anything out of Lori, Scarlett let the woman walk off to god-knows where and was left by herself. The urge to get some sleep was incredibly strong, but her mind was restlessly keeping her going for reasons unknown. It was as if she hadn't had time to digest everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours and her head began to pound furiously.

"Scarlett."

Picking her gaze up from the floor, the redhead spotted Glenn sitting by the campfire looking at her with worry. Rubbing at her eyes, Scarlett slowly approached the small group of people who were sat around the fire pit and placed herself down beside Glenn. Andrea was curled up in a chair fast asleep, and now that Amy was gone everything felt a little duller. Both Scarlett and Jim had heard the gunshot from inside the RV a few hours ago, the two clueing in to what the sound meant. Carol was sat with Sophia and Morales sat with his own family. Daryl was off to the side fiddling with his crossbow, to which Scarlett felt her mood decline even further. Everyone looked empty of emotion and tired beyond belief.

She only came out of her thoughts when she felt something land on the arm of her chair with a thud, startling away from the sound with wide eyes. Glenn had been startled at her sudden movement, but she became move confused than panicked when her eyes fell on the damp cloth that hung from the arm of her chair. With a quick glance up in the direction where it came from, Scarlett raised a confused eyebrow at Daryl.

"Clean yourself up," he deadpanned. "You look like shit."

Scarlett was stunned into silence, not by the insult like everyone else was, but by the action itself. When they'd last spoken hours ago, it hadn't been on the best of terms. She wondered if her words had actually had an effect on him, and perhaps this was his way of trying to make things right.

She couldn't help but laugh, much to everyone's surprise. Maybe she'd lost her mind.

"Thanks, Dixon."

* * *

 _Daryl's Perspective_

The younger Dixon had been in a bad mood all day, worse than he usually was. If not finding his brother and having to deal with a hoard of walkers wasn't bad enough, he'd been pissed by the honesty in Scarlett's words the morning after. In reality, he shouldn't have been mad; he'd asked for her opinion and he sure as hell got it. He was almost positive that if anyone else in the camp had spoken that way to him, he would have lost it and attacked them. That's the part that bothered him. That she was somehow different than the others because really, she wasn't, but for some reason she _was_ different. Hell, he'd only known her for a day and already had more respect for her than he would ever admit. Anyone who spent hours with a dying man trying to ease him until his death deserved some respect, even if he did think it was stupid and pointless.

That's what lead him to chuck the cloth her way and blatantly insult her appearance. He figured it came down to the fact that she spoke to him like any other person, regardless of where he came from. He was rude and full of rage, he wasn't ashamed to admit that, but the fact that she would call him out on it and still put up with him was beyond Daryl's understanding.

And then she'd laughed at his insult and thanked him, bypassing it like water to a duck's feathers. Scarlett was full of surprises, and that's why he supposed he enjoyed her company.

He was almost thankful that both Shane and Rick had showed up to take the focus away from himself, since he had not a clue in the world on how to respond to the redheads reaction.

While Daryl didn't really give a shit where the group ended up going, he couldn't deny that he was a little relieved that they had finally decided on a plan of action. All he knew was that he didn't want to stay on the outskirts of the city anymore. What bothered Daryl about the whole thing was how Shane seemed to be okay with going along with Rick's plan when for the longest time he'd be extremely against it. It was easy to see that there was some tension between the two men, and Daryl figured he'd need to keep an eye on that.

After the little meeting with the group, Daryl retreated back to his tent to get a few hours of sleep. Whether he would actually get some rest was beyond him, but he needed to be on his own for a bit at the very least. It wasn't like he despised the people in the group, but they definitely got irritating after a while.

Lying in his tent for a few hours provided little comfort for him, as his thoughts shifted to that of his older brother. Merle was one of the biggest assholes Daryl knew, but the man was still his family and as far as he knew, blood was thicker than water. He wanted to go back to when things were simpler, but then again, things were never simple between the Dixon brothers. The older brother would constantly insult whoever got in their way, whether Daryl fully agreed or not. The two of them had been fending for themselves for as long as they could remember, sticking together no matter what.

As much as he worried about his brother, Daryl couldn't help but feel a bit relieved. Merle was extremely loud and crude, and while the younger Dixon had similar moments, he definitely had a better head on his shoulders than the older did. So for once, he'd had some peace and quiet. He felt bad for thinking that way, considering that Merle had done a lot for him, which the older Dixon constantly reminded Daryl of.

Opening his eyes and sitting up in the tent, Daryl was feeling restless. He didn't enjoy thinking that much about the situation, since there were always conflicting morals going at it inside his mind. While a part of him figured that he should just go off on his own, Daryl could only think of staying. At least for a little while, that is.

Daryl was a bit surprised when he exited the tent to darkness, unaware of how long he'd truly been resting. He figured he might as well go take a look around camp, grab some water while he was there if he could. Hopefully nobody shot at him while he did.

With his crossbow thrown over his shoulder, he ventured towards camp. His tent was probably the furthest from the main area, which only made sense for him. He'd wanted nothing to do with the others, or at least as little interactions as possible with them, but now he wasn't so sure he felt the same way anymore. Watching the rest of the group was always interesting, considering that there was always drama going on.

Finally reaching the camp, Daryl saw that it was pretty much empty and that everyone had gone to bed. There were no fires going or any sound to be heard, which made him breathe out in relief. As little interactions as possible made everything easier, though he couldn't help but wonder why they didn't have someone watching over the camp. However, that's when he spotted someone sitting on top of the RV.

He couldn't tell who it was at first, silently drawing closer to get a better look. The figure was too small to belong to any of the men in the camp; the exception possibly being Glenn but the person wasn't wearing that dumb cap the Asian always wore. Daryl thought for a moment that it was Andrea, but considering that her sister had just turned into a walker, he doubted anyone would let her be on guard duty for the night with the state of mind she was in.

So when he saw the ginger hair, Daryl let out a sigh. Of course it was Scarlett, sitting up there with a rifle, watching over the camp. He was stupid to think it could be anyone else. Gazing up at her carefully, he watched as she appeared to be reading over something. Even in the dark Daryl could tell she was exhausted.

Why he decided to speak to her was beyond him. He could have easily slipped by to go get his water and avoided the whole interaction, but here he was, looking up at her from just beside the RV.

"What are you doing?"

Daryl watched as the woman almost jumped out of her skin, eyes wide and immediately gazing down at him with her rifle in hand. When she finally realized that it was him, he saw the tension leave her body, though she didn't look thrilled with him scaring her. Hair pulled back in its usual ponytail, she finally began breathing again.

"Jesus, Daryl," she hissed at him through the night air. "I could have shot you."

"Do you even know how to fire that thing?" He questioned, referring to the rifle in her hands.

Glancing between him and the gun, Scarlett sighed.

"Yes and no," she replied. "I can fire it, but whether the bullet actually hits it's target is debatable."

Daryl fought the tug of a smile threatening to come to light, but instead let out a scoff in response. Lowering the rifle and placing it beside her with a quiet thud, the redhead gave him a confused look.

"Why are you wandering around in the dark?" Scarlett asked him, furrowing her eyebrows together.

"Was going to get water," he answered simply, eyeing her carefully. "Why're you awake?"

"Because I'm on watch?" She replied, as if the answer was obvious.

"You outta be sleeping."

"Believe me, I've tried."

The defeated tone in her voice surprised Daryl. He'd thought the reason for her lack of sleep was because she was too stubborn to close her eyes and get some rest, but the weary look on the woman's face told a different story completely. Maybe all the death and destruction was finally getting to her. He couldn't exactly blame her for feeling distraught over the events of the past few days.

"And you?"

Daryl blinked slowly, realizing that she had turned her attention back down to him.

"I told you, I got up for water."

"You seem pretty awake for someone who just got up for a water run," she shot back at him, looking away from him to rustle through what Daryl could only assume to be her bag. "Trust me, I know an insomniac when I see one."

He wasn't pleased by the fact that she'd managed to analyze him in such a short amount of time. Impressed, but a little annoyed.

About to turn away and go get more water like his original plan had been all about, the sound of plastic being opened and soft chewing made him stop in his tracks. Daryl turned his attention upwards to the woman once again, watching as she ate away at a granola bar, her eyes now looking downward at whatever she'd been reading before he had arrived. Apparently noticing that he was still standing on the ground watching her, Scarlett's eyes shifted over to his form and stopped chewing mid bite.

"You want one?" She asked, to which he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise. He hadn't missed the slight roll of her eyes at his reaction. "Oh come on, it's just a snack. Plus, I doubt having some food with a little company is worse than whatever is going on in that head of yours that's keeping you awake."

Daryl stared at her in silent awe, though he was positive his face was still screwed up in confusion in regards to her suggestion. Going up on top of that RV and sitting with someone was something the younger Dixon wouldn't have done in a million years. He despised interactions with anyone other than his own brother, which said a lot about his social abilities.

But holy shit, how that small bar looked good. He hadn't really eaten much, considering that most meals involved sitting down with the others, which, again, was something he desperately wanted to avoid at all costs. So he settled for the squirrels he would catch and ate on his own. Daryl couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten something that was actually wrapped in plastic.

In his mind, he figured he'd go up there for the food, but deep down his gut was saying it had something to do with the company that had offered it in the first place.

"… _please just trust us. At the very least, trust me."_

Carefully climbing up the crumby ladder that lead up to the roof of the RV, Daryl took off his crossbow and sat down a little ways away from Scarlett. She'd watched him silently as he'd climbed up to meet her, a bit of surprise could be found in her eyes. For a moment he wondered if she had been joking about the invitation.

"What?" He demanded, a little harsher than he had intended to.

"Nothing," she replied, reaching back to go into the contents of her bag once again. "I'm just surprised you actually came up. Didn't think you liked company."

"I don't."

"I figured," Scarlett chuckled softly, fishing out another granola bar and tossing it to the younger Dixon brother. "Don't worry, you'll barely know I'm here."

For Daryl, she couldn't have been more wrong, because that was another thing that bothered him about the redhead; she was simply too hard to miss.

* * *

 _The urge to just get Scarlett and Daryl to open up to each other was so strong in this chapter, but alas, bonds do not appear out of thing air._

 _I hope the chapter turned out okay. Like I mentioned above, it's very late for me right now so I apologize for any grammatical errors on my part._

 _Once again, I'm so sorry for the lack of updates. I hope you all can forgive me :(_

 _Anyways, take care you guys and I'll see you in the next update,_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


	11. To Be Left Behind

_Wow, another chapter? Who would have thought?_

 _Hey again, hope you're all doing well. Can't say that I've been great with my uploads, but at least it hasn't taken a month to get it out *cough cough* unlike last time *cough cough*._

 _A big thank you to Cassange, Lykae'Sky, Simone140089, BloodBlackAlchemist, Cap3r, and elisamiller93 for favouriting/following the story. While my updates are rather random and unpredictable, I still very much appreciate the support. This goes out to everyone else who has continued this journey with me as well :)_

 _In terms of reviews,_

 _devoncarman: once again, I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the previous chapter! Glad to hear you like the nickname Daryl gave Scarlett as well, it's a little bit of something that they can share together. Plus, he's probably gonna be the only one to refer to her like that anyways lol. Sadly, I decided to end the chapter with them just getting to the C.D.C. but I am attempting to brainstorm some stuff for the next chapter with all the drinking and such. As for later episodes, I have sections and big plot points already set up for the seasons to come. Its the stuff in between that's gonna require my attention lol. I'm looking forward to writing season two, so please stay tuned! Again, thank you so much for the support :D_

 _I don't really have anything else to talk about here, other than that my drive to write for this story over my other one has been insanely strong, so hopefully they'll be more consistent updates. (fingers crossed)_

 _Enjoy the chapter~_

* * *

 _Scarlett's Perspective_

The light from the rising sun irritated the inner workings of the paramedic's mind, a splitting headache beating away behind her skull. The redhead figured that it derived from her lack of sleep over the past few days, but running on low energy was something she was accustomed to. Back when society was still functioning normally, Scarlett would work shifts that lasted over forty-eight hours, only having small catnaps in the middle. The fatigue she was feeling now was nothing unfamiliar.

Packing up the camp had been a lot less tedious than what everyone had expected, spending only a few hours that morning to take down tents and load up the cars. As much as it was a little sad to see their camp return to it's natural state, Scarlett couldn't wait to get on the road. She wanted a safe haven just like everyone else did, and hopefully it could be found at the C.D.C.

With her pack resting on the ground next to her, Scarlett was crouched close to the earth as her back rested against the warm metal of the RV. She could hear Jim coughing horrendously from the inside, a few gasps and moans of pain reaching her ears every now and then. It was safe to say that getting him to the C.D.C in time was a far away dream at this point, let alone if they had a cure or not. His fever was worse than ever, coughing fits had become a regular occurrence that usually ended up with the man spitting out blood, and half the time he wasn't even fully coherent. His delirium was making it difficult for her to even have a normal conversation with him, let alone attend to him when half the time he wouldn't tell her what was the matter. The symptoms were starting to get to him mentally, and it is extremely difficult for someone to come back once they decided they were screwed overall. In other words, it appeared as though he was coming to terms with his demise.

Scarlett scratched at her hands in annoyance, her anxieties much higher than they should be. She decided to blame that on her lack of sleep as well, and not what was lurking in the back of her mind. They had enough to worry about as it was, and she was not about to let her mind play tricks on her.

"Alright. Everybody, listen up."

At the sound of Shane's voice, Scarlett rolled her head to the side to peer towards where the group had gathered. She caught Glenn's eye, who ushered her over to take part of the conversation and precautions the former officers were about to dish out. A soft sigh left her mouth as she stood up, her muscles not feeling as achy as they had originally, which made her feel a little less cranky.

It was only when Scarlett shuffled over to join the others that Shane began his little speech.

"Those of you with C.B.s, we're gonna be on channel 40," he stated, looking around at the group. "Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?"

Scarlett glanced over at the line of cars that the group would be taking to the C.D.C. As far as she knew, she'd be ridding in the RV with Dale, Glenn, Jim, and Jacqui. She was thankful to the other woman, who had been looking after Jim in her place when something else would come up that required her attention. In terms of the arrangements made for everyone else, Scarlett wasn't too sure.

"We're, uh, we're not going."

Looking up in surprise, the paramedic's eyes landed on Morales and his family, who clung to each other in order to stay close.

"We have family in Birmingham," his wife clarified. "We want to be with our people."

Their words made perfect sense, considering how precious all family was in these times, but Scarlett still felt her heart drop. It would be a shame to watch them go, but it wasn't anyone's decision to make but their own.

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane stated, eyeing the family carefully.

"We'll take the chance," Morales replied, glancing at the others. "I got to do what's best for my family."

"You sure?" Rick asked.

"We talked about it. We're sure."

"All right," Rick muttered, looking over at his partner. "Shane."

"Yeah, all right."

Scarlett looked over at Glenn, who appeared even more down than she felt. Though, when the two officers pulled out a gun and handed it over to Morales, a bit of the blue feeling in her chest subsided, knowing that they'd at least have a weapon for protection. The man had a wife and two children for god sakes, it was the least the group could do for them.

Morales looked a bit surprised, but thankful for the gesture.

"The box is half full." Shane informed the other man, referring to the small box of ammo they had handed to Morales as well.

Almost missing the huff of annoyance that came from off to her right, the redhead glanced over at Daryl. The younger Dixon didn't look pleased that they were handing out ammo to the family, the irritation obvious on his face. She understood where he was coming from; they'd gone through hell to get the bag of guns and ammo back in Atlanta and the two officers appeared to be handing the supplies out like candy, but for all the things Morales and his family had done for the group, they sure as hell had earned their keep as far as Scarlett was concerned and she hadn't even been with the group for that long.

However, she was thankful that he wasn't being vocal about it for the time being. He was letting everyone in the group say goodbye to Morales and his family without any comments leaving his lips. As Glenn patted her on the shoulder to let her know that he was going to say his own goodbye to the family, Scarlett was relieved when she finally caught Daryl's eye amongst the soft crying and embraces that surrounded them. Mouthing a quick ' _thank you_ ' to him, he appeared to understand what she was referring to, but did nothing else to show that he was happy about the situation at hand, which he didn't need to be. The respect he was showing, however, was exactly the side of him that Scarlett was attempting to get to know better, and that was why she'd offered for him to join her up on the roof of the RV the night before.

In all honestly, she'd felt kind of stupid for offering the man the company when he clearly didn't want any. For her, Scarlett was okay with company as long as she knew the person for a long enough period of time or saw that they were a genuine person deep down. While the situation they were in tended to reveal the inner self of everyone involved, the reason she'd bonded so well with some people was because she saw they had pure intentions. Take Glenn, for example, who was a scrawny Asian boy her age who had a sarcastic streak in him, but was a sincerely kind guy. Both her and Rick had seen that the day he'd stuck his neck out for them back in Atlanta. Hell, it took _years_ for Scarlett to open up to the Grimes' family, along with Shane, who had reached out to her on several occasions but she quickly dismissed them as pity. It was only when Lori had practically dragged both the sisters to dinner with them that Scarlett saw their intentions. They were a kind family who were simply curious about them, no pity or attempt to understand what had happened in their home. They simply wanted a conversation, and that's what Scarlett gave to them. It was the best decision she ever made.

While she was friendly with everyone in the group, she was only truly close with Glenn, Shane, and the Grimes' family. She didn't know Dale that well, apart from the small conversations they'd have in the morning or over dinner. She hadn't spoken a word to Andrea since Amy had been bitten, wanting to give the woman space before approaching her. She only knew Jacqui, T-Dog, and Morales from when they had been stuck in Atlanta, and Jim had only spoken to her when he was bitten. Carol and Sophia had never spoken a word to her, and while she wanted to approach them, her abusive husband Ed had been in the way. Scarlett had only realized later on that Ed had been one of the unlucky ones to get bit and eaten by walkers. While the horrid man had only been gone roughly two days, Scarlett could already see more life in both Carol and Sophia. The redhead wanted to have a conversation with both of them, provide some sort of comfort if she could. She didn't know much about their family situation, but it was pretty obvious from where she stood. All she wanted was to hear things from Carol's perspective.

And then, of course, there was Daryl. In all honestly, when she'd first met him, he seemed like Merle 2.0. He was loud and abrasive, not giving a shit about what anyone else had to say. The man would barely listen to reason, though he appeared to know his limits, unlike his older brother.

It was only when they got to Atlanta that Scarlett began seeing something else in him. Still brash and mouthy, he appeared to have a better head on his shoulders with his brother out of the picture. He would actually listen to what Scarlett and Rick had to say and managed to take their point of view into perspective. Daryl was starting to be a little more considerate of others, and that's all Scarlett could ask for.

When he'd actually accepted her offer to join her up on the roof of the RV, she'd been stunned. Scarlett thought for sure that he'd scowl at her and walk away, but the man had climbed up and sat beside her all through the night. The two hadn't talked much under the night sky, sharing the occasional comment before falling into silence once again. She'd been busy going over her notes and checking her pack while Daryl cleaned his arrows and ate away at the granola bar she'd given him. It had been mildly awkward at first, but the silence finally grew comfortable and she didn't feel the immediate urge to uphold a conversation with him. They simply got used to each other's presence, and that in itself meant a lot to her. Though it had been a bit comical when Dale had emerged from the RV and spotted the two of them up there in the morning.

But all in all, Scarlett wasn't sure as to why she was drawn to Daryl Dixon. Maybe it was because he showed himself as an insensitive, loudmouth redneck, when deep down she found that to be untrue. From the small glimpses of him that she'd seen where her blood pressure hadn't risen above normal, he appeared to be nothing more than a quiet man who had experienced a lot of shit. And she wanted him to be that other person, his true self, as cheesy as it sounded, because there was good in him, and it was a matter of getting him to see it for himself.

Breaking away from the staring contest they had unknowingly been having, Scarlett turned her attention to Morales and his family and slowly approached them. She'd stuck out her hand to the man, who shook it firmly.

"Keep everyone in one piece." He said, half jokingly as Scarlett gave him a sad smile.

"I'll do my best," she answered, looking over at his family. "You take care, okay?"

"Same to you."

Without another word, everyone got into their respected vehicles and prepared for their trip to the C.D.C. Scarlett sat at the table in the RV as both Dale and Glenn sat in the front seats while Jacqui remained with Jim in the back. Hearing the rev of the engines from their convoy of cars, Scarlett inspected the small markings on Stella that had been acquired over the past month. To think that before the dead started walking, she hadn't used the bat a single time. While it was a comfort to have the bat sitting by her front door if she ever needed it, the symbolism behind it meant even more to her. The support of her friends and family was the foundation under the metal surface and smooth handle of the bat, and Scarlett wouldn't have wanted any other weapon by her side.

Watching as Morales and his family made the opposite turn, the RV lead the rest of the cars down the highway. The inside of the RV remained silent for a long time after they left the camp. Neither Dale or Glenn spoke any words at the front of the vehicle, while only the occasional groan came from Jim in the back, followed by a few words of comfort from Jacqui. Scarlett did her own thing, either fiddling with her gun or glancing out the window. As they continued to drive, Scarlett found it more and more difficult to keep her eyes open. She assumed now that they were sitting and she had nothing to do, her body was starting to give in to her fatigue. However, she continued to fight against it. The fact that Jacqui could burst out from the back of the RV at any minute with news about Jim was keeping her awake, no matter how heavy her eyelids grew.

"Would you just close your eyes and get some sleep?"

Blinking slowly a few times, Scarlett shifted her eyes up to meet Dale's through the rear view mirror. The man moved his gaze between her and the road, his eyebrows rising when she didn't respond.

"You haven't slept in over forty either hours." Dale stated and Scarlett watched as Glenn turned around in his seat to stare at her in bewilderment.

"What?!" Her friend practically yelled.

"Sleeping's never been one of my strongest suites." She replied, rubbing at her cheek absentmindedly.

"What the hell have you been doing during the night?"

"The first night everyone was up gathering the bodies for burial or for burning. Then last night I was on watch."

"Wasn't Andrea supposed to do it?"

"Yeah, but she needed to rest."

"But so do you, Scarlett!" Glenn retaliated, not putting up with her excuses. "No offense or anything, but what if you fell asleep during watch and there had been another attack?"

"I wasn't alone. Daryl was with me."

"Daryl?!"

Scarlett couldn't help but chuckle softly at his reaction. With eyes wide and full of either concern or disbelief, Glenn frowned slightly as he tried to wrap his head around the situation.

"Why was he on watch with you?" Glenn asked, face still scrunched up in confusion.

"Long story short, I offered and he joined me," she replied, watching as her friend's face contorted into even more incredulity. "I was surprised too, don't get me wrong. I thought he'd make a crude remark and walk away."

"But why did you invite him to anyways?"

"Good question. I'll let you know when I figure it out."

Without another word, Scarlett closed her eyes and she could tell from a lack of a response that Glenn understood that she was done having their conversation about Daryl. Was it really so ridiculous that she'd been on watch with the younger Dixon? She hadn't thought so, but maybe it was her insomnia getting to her, though she figured that deep down she was simply making excuses for herself.

After a few minutes, the redhead managed to fall into a dreamless sleep. She didn't know how long she was out for, though it didn't seem like much when she woke up to hear one of the most dreadful groans of pain erupt from the back of the RV. Eyes flying open, Scarlett immediately got up, threw her pack over her shoulder, and made her way to where Jim and Jacqui remained. When she finally reached them, the former paramedic couldn't believe how pale the infected man had become. Covered in sweat and looking like death itself, the pain was obvious on Jim's face. Jacqui was looking down at the man in a panic, her eyes shifting over to Scarlett's in worry.

Pulling out a small flashlight, Scarlett approached Jim and leaned closer to him. Quickly yet carefully, she turned on the flashlight to check the man's vitals to see how his retinas reacted to the light. Mildly surprised, the man seemed more coherent than he had the day before. While his eyes remained glassy, they weren't as foggy as they had been, which told her that she was dealing with a very aware Jim, and not his hallucinating, disjointed other self.

"Where's the majority of the pain coming from, Jim?" She asked him, kneeling down beside his makeshift bed.

"Everywhere," he wheezed, glancing over at her. "It feels like my bones are shattering and piercing my muscles. This trip might kill me before the bite does."

"And the fever?"

"I can't tell what's hot and cold anymore."

Grabbing ahold of the man's arm, she softly hit his forearm with her pointer and middle finger.

"Did you feel that at all?"

"Only a little."

Scarlett rubbed at her eyes; that wasn't good at all. His nerves must have been fried from the fever and weren't functioning properly anymore. While he still had some feeling, the majority of his pain appeared to be coming from the deepest parts of his body, namely his bones and main organs, which essentially meant that the infection was almost done spreading and destroying his inner workings.

The RV gave an unnatural jerk, which caused Jim to curse and moan in pain, his hand gripping Scarlett's with more strength than she thought he had in him. A few curses could be heard from the front of the vehicle as well, feeling the RV slowly roll to a stop.

"It's that stupid hose again!" Scarlett heard Dale yell, followed by the sound of the RV door being thrown open and shut.

Peeking out the back, Scarlett watched as their convoy came to a stop behind them, Rick and the others emerging from their cars to see what the problem was. Scarlett let out a sigh.

"Jim, I need you to take some deep breathes if you can, okay?" Scarlett informed the man, who continued to grip her arm for dear life. The redhead turned her attention to Jacqui. "Can you wet that cloth again? Maybe press it against his forehead."

After attempting to get Jim to breathe somewhat normally again, Scarlett came to the realization that he couldn't travel in the state he was in. The man could barely breathe in without a cry escaping his mouth, let alone put up with the bumps in the road as they drove. No matter how much Jacqui continued to wipe his sweat away or how much Scarlett attempted to talk him down, there was no way that Jim would be travelling anytime soon. If there was a cure, he needed it right now.

Scarlett could feel her jaw clench in irritation. There was nothing more she hated than being unable to perform a task, especially when it came to saving someone's life. It was her job, her duty in life to help people who couldn't help themselves. So when she came face to face with an unsolvable situation, it made her blood boil and self-loathing emit from every pore on her body.

And now here she was in front of Jim, coming to understand that no matter what they did, they wouldn't be able to save him in time.

"Jacqui, please get Rick for me." Scarlett muttered, though loud enough for the woman to hear.

Without a word, Jacqui took off and exited the RV in order to get the former sheriff. A harsh sigh left Scarlett's body, her shoulders hunched over in defeat as she took in the situation.

"So you've finally realized it."

Glancing up at the sick man, Scarlett bit the inside of her cheek to keep from glowering at Jim.

"Yeah." She replied curtly, attempting to hold back her irritation.

"You don't seem pleased." Jim muttered, a few coughs erupting from his mouth. Scarlett quickly grabbed a rag and wiped the blood form his mouth.

"Am I supposed to be?" She questioned, a frown pulling at the corners of her mouth.

"Well, one less liability-"

"Liability my asshole, Jim," she snapped at him before realizing her harsh tone and letting out a quick exhale. "You were never a liability, so quit thinking that way."

Before Jim could come up with an answer, the door to the RV was opened and in walked Rick, his face sullen as he approached the two of them. The former sheriff took one look at Scarlett's face and his frown deepened.

"We'll be back on the road soon." Rick informed the two of them, only for Jim groan softly.

"Oh no. Christ," the infected man replied hoarsely. "My bones…my bones are like glass. Every little bump. God, this ride is killing me. Leave me here. I'm done. Just leave me. I want to be with my family."

Scarlett rang her hands together in order to keep from scratching them violently. The last thing she wanted to do was give up on Jim, but at this point, the decision was up to him.

"They're all dead," Rick stated, coming closer to kneel down beside Scarlett. "I don't think you know what you're asking. The fever, you've been more delirious than not-"

"I know. Don't you think I know?" Jim answered, a groan emitting from his mouth. "I'm clear now, Scarlett checked my vitals a few minutes ago. In five minutes, I might not be. Rick, I know what I'm asking. I want this. Leave me here. Now that's on me. Okay? My decision. Not your failure, for neither one of you."

Swallowing harshly, Scarlett's mouth was going dry as the seconds went by. Rick kept glancing between the two of them before finally signaling for Scarlett to follow him out of the RV.

"We'll be back."

Scarlett followed the former sheriff out of the RV with her gaze on the ground as Rick explained the situation to everyone. Feeling a hand land on her shoulder, she was surprised to meet Andrea's equally tired eyes. Scarlett gave her a nod as to say thank you, a weak smile peeking at the corners of the blonde's lips.

"That's what he says he wants." Rick finished, looking around at the others.

"And he's lucid?" Carol asked hesitantly.

"Scarlett checked him. Even when I spoke with him he appeared to be. So I would say yes."

"Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood," Dale spoke up. "I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer."

"We just leave him here? We take off? Man, I'm not sure I could live with that." Shane stated, looking over at Rick.

"It's not our decision." Scarlett said calmly, trying to think clearly about the situation. When nobody answered or argued with her words, it was silently agreed upon that Jim would be left behind.

Both Shane and Rick helped carry Jim out of the RV and up into the trees by the side of the road. Everyone watched in silence as the two men placed him at the base of a tree, his back leaning against the trunk for support. Scarlett kept her arms crossed in front of her as she continued to bite at the inside of her cheek.

"Hey, another damn tree." Jim joked half-heartedly as he glanced up at the higher branches above them.

"Hey, Jim? I mean, you know it doesn't need to be like this." Shane said, crouched down beside the frail man.

"No. It's good," he replied through shallow breaths. "The breeze feels nice."

"Okay," Shane muttered, glancing down at the ground and feeling the same defeat everyone else did. "Alright."

With a final pat on the knee, Shane moved away from Jim, to which Jacqui moved forward to kneel beside him.

"Just close your eyes, sweetie," She said to him, a heartbroken smile on her face. "Don't fight."

With a soft and endearing peck on the cheek, Jacqui walked away and retreated to the RV without looking back. It was obvious that the woman was taking it hard, which only made Scarlett feel worse.

Moving forward, it was Rick who approached Jim next.

"Jim, do you want this?"

In the palm of the former sheriff's hand remained a small pistol that made Scarlett's stomach turn horribly within her. She had to look down for a minute.

"No. You'll need it," Jim replied, though Rick didn't appear swayed by his words. So he repeated himself. "I'm okay. I'm okay."

Andrea remained by Scarlett's side as Dale stepped forward, the older man attempting to find his words before speaking.

"Thanks for, uh, for fighting for us." Dale finally said, a genuine compliment coming from him to the frail man.

"Okay." Was Jim's only reply, unable to come up with an answer for the kind words he'd just received.

And when it appeared that nobody had anything else to say, all eyes fell on Scarlett. She'd been the one to look after him the past few days, along with Jacqui who had already said her goodbyes. After a moment of pause, Scarlett finally took a few steps forward and crouched down beside him.

"This isn't on you. This is all me." Jim spoke up first, sensing her distress.

"I know, I know, but still," she muttered, pain reaching her words as she looked up at him. "I spent the first half of my life being useless to everyone around me, especially to myself. And then when I finally got a job where I could help others and not waste away doing nothing, it was magnificent. It was my goal to save others, and I sincerely apologize that I wasn't good enough to save you. I truly am, Jim. It's one of the few things I'm good for and I couldn't even help you. I hope you can forgive me."

Silence filled the air as she looked back down at the ground again. She was beginning to lose her cool again, much to her irritation. This was actually happening, and she had actually failed another human being when it came to their health.

"I forgive you."

Scarlett bit down on her tongue, as she looked back up at Jim, thankful that he understood where she was coming from and how sorry she was. She tried her best and he knew that, which in the end was all that should matter to the redhead. She did all that she could and he saw that.

Standing up, Scarlett turned and joined the others as they all descended back onto the road and waited by the cars. She couldn't bring herself to look back up to where Jim remained amongst the trees, but that was okay. While she didn't have a clear conscious now, she would eventually.

Without sharing a glance with anyone else, the paramedic sauntered into the RV and placed herself back at the table, leaning her forehead and arms on it's top. A quiet discussion from outside reached her ears before fading away, the sound of Dale, Glenn and Jacqui entering the RV following soon after. Assuming that they fixed whatever was wrong with the hose since the RV began moving again, Scarlett just wanted to get to the C.D.C and sleep. At this point, she didn't care if her nightmares tormented her subconscious mind while she slept. She just wanted to be unconscious for a little while, and she was sure that her body wouldn't argue.

Turning her head on the table to glance out the window, Scarlett saw the sky beginning to grow dark. It seemed that it had only been minutes ago that they'd left Jim behind with the sun still high in the sky. She supposed her sense of time was going to crap, which probably should have bothered her more than it did. It was when she caught sight of abandoned military equipment and tall buildings that she sat up and got out of her seat to join Dale and Glenn up at the front.

Neither of the men said anything to her, simply giving her a quick side eye before focusing their full attention at the destruction on the roadway in front of them. The road was littered with dead bodies, some lying on the pavement while others were draped across military vehicles like ornaments. At first it looked like everyone had just decided to nap right in the middle of the road, but a closer look at their rotting faces would tell anyone otherwise.

The RV came to a halt in front of a roadblock, the caravan stopping behind them. Scarlett was the first out of the vehicle, her bag and Stella already on her person as she gazed at the eerie view in front of her. The sound of car doors slamming and the hesitant footsteps that followed informed the redhead that everyone was just as freaked out as she felt.

Rick wandered up beside her, pausing for a moment to look at the woman in mild concern. She ignored the look however, choosing to stare at a rather stomach curdling image of a crow pecking the eye out of a dead walker.

"Let's go." The man said, moving forward once again as everyone followed on his tail.

The stench was horrendous. Flies swarmed the decomposing bodies in clouds, causing everyone to cover their faces from both the smell and the insects. While most people's attention was focused on making sure to avoid stepping on the rotting corpses, Scarlett's eyes remained fixed on the large building in front of them. One side of it was made up entirely of glass, which she assumed was bullet proof. The rest was built with heavy concrete that looked practically indestructible. The C.D.C. was a sight for sore eyes, but she didn't let herself get too wound up yet.

Approaching what she could only assume be the loading area, the hushed whispers of the group fell silent as they made their way to the metal doors. Rick and Shane were the first ones to reach the metal shutters that sealed the building off, their attempts at opening them or prying them open falling significantly short.

Banging on the shutters did nothing either.

"There's nobody here." T-Dog stated, trying to keep his voice level, though his nervousness was easy to see.

"Then why are these shudders down?" Rick countered, attempting to reason with the other man.

Scarlett's eyes traced around the outside of the metal shutters anxiously, trying to do the exact same thing that Rick was doing in his mind. They couldn't have come all this way for nothing, could they?

"Walkers!" Daryl called out, the paramedic's head snapping in the direction of his voice. Multiple gasps and whimpers went up amongst their group as the younger Dixon sank an arrow through one of the walkers.

When he turned around, Scarlett could see the rage and panic in Daryl's eyes.

"You led us into a graveyard!" He yelled, approaching the former sheriff.

"He made a call." Shane attempted to calm the other man down, but he wasn't having any of it.

"It was the wrong damn call!"

"Just shut up! You hear me? Shut up!"

Every fiber in Scarlett's body was telling her to panic, to tell everyone to retreat back to the vehicles and drive somewhere else, but the fact that they were so close safety but just out of reach baffled her mind. They had to do something and fast.

"Rick this is a dead end." Shane stated firmly.

"Where are we gonna go?" Scarlett heard Carol cry out from behind them.

"Do you hear me?" Shane repeated to his best friend. "No blame."

"Carol's right," Lori spoke up, looking at the two men in a panic. "We can't be this close to the city after dark."

"Fort Benning. Rick, it's still an option."

"On what? No food, no fuel."

"That's a hundred miles."

"Hundred twenty five. I checked the map."

"Forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight, now."

She almost missed it amongst the chaotic chatter leaving the mouths of the members of the group. Movement out of the corner of her eye, a soft whirling sound when it did move that made her stop and turn her attention to above the metal shutters. A small, round security camera sat facing them, when it had been facing another direction a minute ago, which told Scarlett that someone _was_ in there and not letting them in.

"It moved." She muttered, eyes wide as she continued to stare at it.

"What?" Rick asked, apparently the only one who heard her. Everyone else was beginning to make their way back to the vehicles.

"The camera. It moved." She hissed louder, taking a step closer to it with her eyes narrowed as the others stopped moving.

"You imagined it." Shane countered, which made her blood boil even more.

"It fucking moved."

"It's an automated device. It's gears, okay? They're just winding down. Now come on, the both of you."

Scarlett's wide eyes turned to look at Rick, silently pleading for him to believe her. The man was torn, wanting to hold on to anything that informed him that they were, indeed, this close to safety. She was surprised when he turned his attention back to the camera, approaching it slowly and peering up at it.

"I know you can hear me." He said firmly.

"Everybody get back to the cars now!" Scarlett heard Shane yelling to the others.

"Please help us," Rick continued, practically begging now. "We have women, children. No food, hardly any gas left…"

"Rick, Scarlett, there's nobody here!"

Both Lori and Shane were attempting to calm Rick down as Scarlett stared in mild shock at their situation. If whoever was in there didn't let them in, she was positive that half of them would die in the next few days. If the walkers didn't get them first, it would come down to dehydration and starvation.

"If you don't let us in, you're killing us!" Rick screamed up at the camera.

"Let's go." Shane hissed, grabbing a hold of his best friend.

Scarlett felt a firm hand grasp her forearm harshly, eyes snapping up to meet Daryl's. The man urged her backwards, attempting to get her to follow the others back to the caravan.

"You're killing us! You're killing us! You're killing us!"

Rick's screams were only making her more upset, more furious than anything else. Both her and Rick would be responsible for the deaths of the group if they didn't get in to the C.D.C., and Scarlett wasn't about to have that on her conscious. She already felt horrid about what happened with Jim, she didn't need more blood on her hands.

As she was about to let Daryl's tight grasp on her arm pull her towards the others, multiple clangs and hisses could be heard coming from the building in front of them. Bright light blinded everyone as the metal shutters that covered the entrance had been pulled back, a blurry view of the inside gracing their irises.

Maybe they would be surviving another night after all.

* * *

 _Voila! Another chapter done._

 _Finally on to the final episode of season one lol. I apologize for the lack of Scarlett/Daryl interactions in this chapter, it was focused more on her inner workings and demons this chapter. Plus, i felt like Jim deserved his own spotlight before shit hits the fan at the C.D.C. I'll do my best to get the next chapter out as soon as I can, since I pretty much ended this one on a cliffhanger (sorry ;-;)_

 _As always, I hope you all enjoyed. Feel free to leave feedback, I'm always keen to hear what you all have to say. If any of you have any ideas that you feel you'd like to see in future chapters, go ahead and share them if you wish. I'll definitely take them into consideration as I write (can't guarantee it, but ideas influence others and might spark something for later chapters)._

 _Take care! I'll see you in the next update,_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


	12. Dr Jenner and Lots of Wine

_Hey all!_

 _Thankfully, I've had some free time the past few days and managed to type up this chapter. Hopefully it's not as horrible as my judgemental mind makes it out to be, but it's hard to tell lol. Well, I am posting it so obviously there must be something I like about it haha_

 _A warm thank you to leafygreen16, xXFallenSakuraXx, Bubbles90, Khrystaline, SabakuNoGaara426, Supernatural Aurora, Sharin Cole, Zinthree, WheresMyBones, kmreece, and shadowbella987 for following/favouriting the story. Like I've said, the support means so much to me and drives me to continue posting more content. You guys are seriously the best._

 _As for reviews,_

 _devoncarman: welp, the first night at the C.D.C. has been written and published. Nothing too crazy happens, but things are revealed and discussed, which causes stronger bonds to be made. I didn't want to make everyone feel super out of character regarding their drunken states, but hopefully the interactions made enough sense. Not much regarding Scarlett's bad thoughts in this chapter, but more moments with Daryl lolol hope you enjoy! :D_

 _djmegamouth: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for the review._

 _Well, that's enough of my blabbering. I hope this chapter turned out okay and met expectations. It didn't turn out as I had planned it to, but I feel like (once again) this is more realistic in terms of staying true to character personalities and such._

 _Hope you enjoy~_

* * *

She didn't waste a second as she marched inside the facility, everyone else cautiously following her in. Digging a hand into her belt, Scarlett pulled out her Colt as Rick joined her by her side, anxiously looking around for any sight of people. The silence of the place hit them like a freight train, the sound of their shuffling feet being the only thing to disrupt it.

"Hello?" Rick called out to their empty surroundings, receiving no answer from the white walls that greeted them.

The place was huge; Scarlett was blown away by it. They were only in the front area of the building too, so she couldn't imagine what the rest of the place was like. Different tones of whites and greys covered every surface in sight, the only thing that didn't match the main colours being the C.D.C. emblem that was plastered to the large wall that they'd seen upon entry to the facility.

The sound of a gun being loaded had everyone snapping their attention to one of the nearby doorways. Scarlett immediately spotted a man dressed in a white t-shirt and grey pants, a shotgun tucked under his arm as he gazed at them. She couldn't make out his face much since he was standing in the shadows.

"Anybody infected?" The man asked, his voice echoing against the walls of the large space.

"One of our group was," Rick replied honestly, eyeing the man carefully. "He didn't make it."

A moment of silence passed as the man slowly drew closer, his worn face and sandy hair finally coming into view.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" The man asked quickly, demanding answers.

"A chance."

"That's asking an awful lot these days."

"I know."

Scarlett could practically see the gears turning in the man's head as he attempted to figure out what to do. Letting about a dozen, possibly infected people in to a facility that was otherwise spotless was a huge risk on his part, so she could understand the hesitation, but things were different now and this place was their only hope.

"You all submit to a blood test," the man finally spoke up. "That's the price of admission."

Scarlett caught Rick glancing over at her, to which she gave him a brisk nod.

"We can do that." The former sheriff replied.

Lowering his gun, the man looked around at all the new faces in front of him, a sharp exhale leaving his mouth.

"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now." He stated, approaching the open doors as the rest of the group rushed outside to grab their things.

Throwing whatever they could over their shoulders and ducking back into the C.D.C., the glass doors were shut behind them. It was a good thing that they'd opened up to the group in the first place, the sight of walkers beginning to shuffle about outside only fueling the thought that if they'd had to wait any longer, the majority of them would have been walker food by the end of the night.

"Vi, seal the main entrance," the man in white spoke into the keypad of what Scarlett could only assume to be the security system. "Kill the power up here."

With his simple command, the metal shutters that had kept them locked out rolled down once again to block out their view of the outside world. Scarlett let out a huff of relief.

The group followed the man, who introduced himself as Dr. Edwin Jenner, towards a set of elevators. Stepping inside, Scarlett hugged her pack to her chest as everyone got into the rather large elevator. While the place was quite big, it still didn't keep her from being squished in between Glenn and Daryl on their journey down.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl asked, breaking the silence as Scarlett fought back a smile at the comment.

"There were plenty left lying around," Jenner replied with half a smile. "I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough."

They'd gone through hell was what they looked like.

"Except you," he continued, looking down at Carl with a large smile to which the boy looked away shyly. "I'll have to keep my eye on you."

Continuing to descend further down into the earth, the elevator finally came to a stop. Dr. Jenner was the first one out, turning left as a white hallway greeted the rest of them, with multiple rooms leading off of it. Scarlett unconsciously fell into place beside Andrea as she looked around at their surrounding. She noticed that at the end of the hallway they were currently walking down remained a much larger room that had no lights on.

"Are we underground?" Carol asked all of a sudden.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner replied with another question.

"A little."

"Try not to think about it."

Finally reaching the end of the hallway, the group was greeted by darkness until the doctor spoke up once again.

"Vi, bring up the lights in the big room."

On command, the lights came to life all around them, revealing a walkway that lead down into a ring of computers and other machines Scarlett couldn't name. A screen could be found on the far wall as if for presentations, which she found interesting. There was also a large clock that blinked red numbers as if it were counting down a timer. Counting down to what, she didn't know.

She also noticed that there was nobody else in the room beside Jenner.

"Welcome to Zone 5." The doctor announced, continuing down the walkway towards the circle of computers as everyone followed him.

"Where is everybody?" Rick questioned. "The other doctors, the staff?"

"I'm it." Jenner replied, to which Scarlett raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"What about the person you were speaking with?" Lori asked. "Vi?"

"Vi, say hello to our guests. Tell them welcome."

An automated voice rang over the speakers above them only a second later.

"Hello guests," it greeted them. "Welcome."

"I'm all that's left," Jenner clarified. "I'm sorry."

Scarlett tried her best to hide her frown as she let Jenner's words roll around in her head. The place was spotless, so it wasn't like the walkers had gotten into the building and killed everyone off. She supposed a lot of people took off when things got bad, which didn't make her feel any better. If all those qualified and intelligent people gave up on looking how to stop the infection, what did that say in terms of their odds overall? It only left a stale taste in her mouth.

Taking the silence from the group as a sign to move on, Jenner led them to a different room in order to get everyone's blood tested. It was easy to see nobody wanted to go first, which in itself made Scarlett laugh internally. They'd faced the worst of the worst outside, and suddenly everyone was scared of needles? With a slow exhale, the former paramedic dropped her bag and took a seat in front of Jenner.

"Brave." The doctor muttered under his breath as he readied the needle. Scarlett couldn't tell if the man was mocking her or genuine with his words, ultimately deciding to not give Jenner a response.

Cutting off the circulation in her arm with the quick tie of a band, Scarlett opted to stare at the wall while the doctor did his thing. The soft prick of the needle entering her arm barely registered in her mind, watching from the corner of her eye as everyone sat down scattered around the room. Nobody looked thrilled to get a needle stuck in their arm, but the rare sense of security that they were currently feeling was only just sinking in, the relief and fatigue easy to spot on each one of their faces.

"Done," Jenner spoke up as he retracted the needle from her arm. "I'd recommend-"

"Lying down, yeah." She concluded, getting up and walking off to the side before dropping her things and lying flat against the floor.

One by one, everyone sat down in front of the doctor to get tested. Rick was the one to volunteer after Scarlett, which seemed to calm everyone's nerves even further. Some were more hesitant than others, but besides that there were no vocal complaints. The only one who posed any questions was Andrea, who was the very last one of the group to get blood taken from Jenner.

"What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever." The blonde inquired, eyeing the doctor carefully.

"I've already broken every rule in the book by letting you in here. Let me just at least be careful," the man explained, taking the needle out of Andrea's arm. "All done."

Slowly getting up from her seat, Scarlett watched as Jacqui caught the unsteady blonde from falling over. Feeling dizzy after getting blood taken wasn't uncommon, but the redhead was under the assumption that it had to do with something else.

"Are you okay?" Jenner questioned, to which Andrea only gave a soft nod.

"She hasn't eaten in days," Jacqui explained. "None of us have."

"You wouldn't happen to have anything for us to eat, would you doctor?" Scarlett glanced over at the man for an answer.

The redhead was genuinely curious regarding the food situation, whether it was plentiful or not. The doctors who'd ran could have easily scavenged up almost everything when they left, or it could have gone untouched. She was hoping for the latter of the two situations, but she couldn't be sure when considering their recent luck.

When she met the doctor's eyes, the paramedic raised her eyebrows.

"I have some to spare."

* * *

Scarlett couldn't remember the last time she'd been drunk. There was never a point in her life where she'd gotten completely plastered, not enjoying the lack of control she had when extremely intoxicated, but she definitely had no problem with getting tipsy. And that was what she was feeling now.

The table the group sat around was covered with empty wine bottles and full glasses. Plates were cleared of food and had been discarded long ago, everyone's main focus on getting more wine into their systems. Not one face went without a smile on their lips as alcohol ran through their veins, nice food sat in their stomachs, and spirits soared high off of everyone's euphoria of finally feeling safe. It almost felt as though everything had gone back to normal and that the dead had ceased to walk around at all.

It was almost as if everyone had forgotten what laughter felt like, which was fair when there hadn't been much to laugh about lately to begin with. So, when sat around a table with their little group laughing away, Scarlett was startled by their content. Of course it made her happy to see them all blissfully drinking and smiling from ear to ear, it just wasn't something she was used to. Even before the apocalypse, she was never one to go out drinking with friends at the local bar, that wasn't her thing. She enjoyed quiet evenings, sipping away at her drink and playing Scrabble with Victoria.

She never thought she'd like being with people and being social, though she figured it had something to do with the people rather than the action itself. All she new was that things had changed and she was beaming like an idiot as she watched Glenn down another glass of wine.

"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner," Dale stated, pouring a laughing Lori another glass of wine. "And in France."

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then." She replied, taking a sip out of her newly filled glass.

"What's it gonna hurt? Come on." Rick chimed in, eyeing his wife. "Come on."

Scarlett let out a chuckle with everyone else as she watched the woman shake her head with a grin. Dale poured a bit of the dark red liquid into a cup for Carl to try. The boy took one careful sip before his face scrunched up in disgust and shook his head as if he were trying to get the taste out of his mouth.

"Eww!" The younger boy cried out, to which another round of laughs circled the table.

"That's my boy. That's my boy." Lori muttered as she turned to help her son.

The redhead continued to chuckle as she rubbed at her cheek, catching Glenn's eye in the process and falling into laughter once again. The guy's face was flushed, very visibly drunk off the wine. Scarlett had lost count of how many glasses her friend had drank, but she didn't really care. She was having trouble remembering how many _she'd_ had too.

"Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud." Shane spoke up with no smile found on his face, which caught the redhead off guard.

"Not you, Glenn." Daryl said from across the table, causing both the Asian and Scarlett to turn and look at him.

"What?" Glenn questioned, a goofy look on his face that only made Scarlett snicker.

"Keep drinking, little man. I wanna see how red your face can get." He taunted.

"He seems pretty far gone as it is," The paramedic stated as she patted Glenn's shoulder, only for him to let out a little hiccup to send everyone into hysterics. "My point exactly."

"How're you not drunk, Scarlett?" Her friend whined, his speech slightly slurred.

"She always could hold her alcohol." Rick chimed in from the front end of the table, giving her a grin.

"Shhh," she hushed the man, which caused a few people to chuckle as she turned back to Glenn. "I'm drunk, I just don't show it as easily as you, my dear friend."

"Well, then you're not drunk enough."

Scarlett glanced over at Daryl once again, catching the soft smirk that remained on his lips. He held out one of the wine bottles to her, as if taunting her to drink more. When she cocked an eyebrow at him, his smirk only deepened. A soft chuckle left her lips as she stood up and snatched the bottle from him, bringing it to her lips and feeling the alcohol wash over her mouth as she sat back down. Cheers went up amongst the table at their little interaction as a sense of pride bubbled in her chest. It increased tenfold once she saw the impressed and pleased look on the younger Dixon's face.

Sadly, the feeling faded when she caught a glance of a very quiet Jenner sitting at the far end of the table staring off into space. The former paramedic glanced over at the Grimes family and managed to catch Rick's eye, to which she nodded her head in the doctor's direction. The man's gaze fell onto the silent man and quickly got the message, even in his drunken state.

Rick brought a knife to his wine glass, multiple rings of the glass silently demanding everyone's attention. It only took a few seconds for everyone to quiet down, to which the former sheriff's deputy stood up to address the situation.

"It seems to me that we haven't thanked our host properly." He spoke, turning his and everyone else's attention to Jenner.

"He is more than just our host." T-Dog chimed in, raising his glass as everyone followed his action.

"Hear, hear!"

"Here's to you, doc!"

"Booyah!"

Scarlett could only grin as she raised her bottle to the doctor, who appeared a bit uncomfortable with the praise. She found it a little odd, but figured that maybe he wasn't good with people or being in the spotlight.

It was only once everyone finished clinking glasses that Shane spoke up out of the blue.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?"

The frown that reached Scarlett's face came almost immediately after Shane finished his sentence. She was almost bewildered that the man would bring up that kind of question in the middle of their celebration, but this was Shane. He'd been acting weird for days now, weirder than he did before.

"All the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?" He continued.

Scarlett couldn't believe it.

"Really?" She asked, her tone proving just how un-amused she was by his comments, and apparently she wasn't the only one.

"We're celebrating, Shane," Rick stated, eyeing his best friend carefully. "Don't need to do this now."

"Woah, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was both you and Scarlett's move, supposed to find all the answers. Instead, we- we found him," Shane pointed at Jenner, chuckling with a lack of any sort of humour. "We found one man. Why?"

If she hadn't been angry before, she sure as hell was now. Scarlett didn't care as to why he was acting the way he was, she just wanted him to stop talking. Perhaps it was the alcohol running through her veins that had her temper skyrocketing, but she didn't care. She would have gone after Shane if Glenn hadn't tugged on her arm, begging her with her eyes to not make a scene even in his drunken state.

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families," Jenner explained, keeping his calm exterior. "And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."

"Every last one?" Shane inquired, causing Scarlett's jaw to clench.

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door," the doctor continued. "They…opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

"You didn't leave," Andrea spoke up. "Why?"

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good."

Everyone remained quiet for a few moments, taking in all the things Jenner had said. It was just like Scarlett thought; almost everyone had got up and left while others had ended their own lives. If things were so horrible that even some of the most brilliant doctors had "opted out", it made their situation a whole lot worse than she had thought.

"Dude, you are such a buzz-kill." Glenn stated, his cheery tone from earlier nowhere in sight.

Catching on to the gloomy atmosphere that had fallen over the group after Shane's comments, Jenner got up and informed them to follow him to where they would be spending the night. Going through a few more corridors, Scarlett helped to steady Glenn as they walked the halls. She was secretly using her friend's weight to keep herself from falling over as well, but she didn't feel that bad up on her feet. She still had a bottle of wine clenched in her fist when they reached the rooms, and she wasn't even the only one.

"Most of the facility is powered down, including housing, so you'll have to make do here," the doctor stated. "The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like."

Jenner came to a stop at the end of the hall and turned to look at the group.

"There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same applies – if you shower, go easy on the hot water."

Scarlett almost fell over at the mention of having a hot shower, turning to look at Glenn in amazement before they both looked back at the rest of the group.

"Hot water?" He muttered, a huge smile splitting over his face.

"That's what the man said." T-Dog chuckled, the smiles quickly returning to everyone's faces at the new information.

Without much hesitation, everyone shuffled into their respected rooms. Scarlett grabbed a room at the end of the hall, immediately collapsing on the couch located in the corner. It was so much more comfortable than the sleeping bag she'd been using back at camp, and she was sure everyone thought the same. In all honesty, she could have easily fallen asleep on the couch in that instant, but the thought of having a warm shower was too good to pass up. Tossing her things on the sofa, Scarlett made a break for the bathroom. While it was relatively small, it was still large enough to have a shower in it, along with the toilet and sink. Quickly stripping the clothes of her body, Scarlett turned the faucet and stepped under the warm water. She almost started to cry at the feeling, as if someone had wrapped a blanket of pure comfort around her aching body. Hearing the muffled cheers and yells of content coming from the rooms beside her only made the redhead's smile widen.

They'd gotten lucky. Extremely lucky. What were the chances that Jenner had stayed behind and not bolted like the rest had? That he had seen them on the cameras and decided to let them in even though it was against everything he was taught? That he had given them food and wine and let them stay there? It was almost too good to be true.

Stepping out of the shower, Scarlett cleaned herself off with a towel she'd found in one of the cupboards. She used her fingers to brush through her red locks before throwing on a large white t-shirt that hung off her shoulder and some comfy grey sweatpants that she'd also found in the room.

For a while, she debated on whether or not to leave the room in search of the others or just to simply stay in her own room. She figured the majority of the group was drunk beyond belief, most likely passed out or on the verge of passing out. Scarlett thought about going down to the rec room to see the kids, but ultimately decided to stay put.

Laying her head back on the couch and staring at the ceiling with her bottle of wine still in hand, Scarlett let her mind wander. There was something about Jenner that bothered her. She couldn't rationalize while the wine clouded her mind, but she figured if she felt that way that there was a reason behind it. Maybe it was the look on his face while he'd told the group about what happened to the other doctors, or the way he was acting around them, Scarlett wasn't sure. She could only sense that he was hiding something, which again, she couldn't be sure of, but her gut was screaming at her to find something wrong with their situation while her mind was telling her that they were completely safe. She didn't know which one to believe, either too drunk or too tired to figure it out. It was when she saw cartoon representations of her gut and brain having an argument behind her closed eyes that she shook her head and sat up.

She really should go to bed.

Taking a quick sip of her wine, Scarlett jumped at the sound of two sharp knocks on her door. She immediately reached for Stella, even though they were in a safe environment, but she figured she could never be too careful. Placing the wine bottle on the coffee table and getting up from the couch, the redhead slowly approached the door and threw it open.

She was a little surprised, and she was sure it was evident all over her face. The former paramedic had been expecting either Rick or Glenn to come knocking on her door, but instead came face to face with Daryl.

He stared at her in amusement, most likely because she had Stella swung over her shoulder in case of an intruder.

"Gonna beat me up?" He questioned.

"Depends on what you want." She replied seriously, but the man cracked a small smile.

"Can I use your shower? Mine isn't working."

The request was odd, Scarlett couldn't argue with that. If it were any other guy, Scarlett would have taken it as an attempt to make a move on her and she would've told him to beat it, but this was different. Daryl didn't seem like the type to lie about these kinds of things. From what she knew about him, he didn't like interacting with others, so if he were to lie about something that involved him talking with anyone, he wouldn't have done it.

Daryl apparently caught on to what she was thinking and rolled his eyes.

"You think I'm lying?" He asked, a scoff leaving his lips.

"No," she answered calmly. "It's just that my thought process is a lot slower when I'm drinking."

"I can tell."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You wanna use my shower or not?"

"Yeah."

"Than drop the attitude, Dixon," she rolled her eyes as he chuckled, failing at hiding her own smile. "Come on in."

Walking back into the room and hearing the door shut behind them, Scarlett sat herself back down on the couch as Daryl went into the bathroom and closed the door. The question didn't hit her until she'd heard the shower turn on; why had he asked her and not someone else? He couldn't have known this was her room, could he? Maybe he had knocked on other doors and had gotten no answer. Or had he come specifically to use her shower? She probably was the most friendly with him, but still.

She shook her head. She was reading too much into the situation and needed to calm down. Coming up with useless answers that weren't from the source was a waste of time and would only get her more worked up. Scarlett figured she'd just ask him when he got out of the shower.

Every time she tried to think of something else, her thoughts would just go back to Daryl. It was stupid, and she was overanalyzing her overanalyzing to the point that she was driving herself crazy. Taking another sip from her bottle proved to be useless in stopping her thoughts about the younger Dixon. They weren't bad or anything, they were just curious questions that she would like answers to. Did he think of her as a friend, or someone he could come to if he needed something? That seemed self-explanatory, considering that he was currently using her shower. Did he dislike her? She was pretty much the only one he would talk to more than once in a day. Why did she care about all of this in the first place?

A soft groan left her lips as she place her head in her hands. This was why she didn't get drunk often; she liked having control over her actions and thoughts. Plus, she was going to have a killer hangover tomorrow, which she was not looking forward to.

Just as she had registered that the shower had turned off, more loud knocks came from the door to her room. Scarlett let out a sigh, wondering who wanted what now. Grabbing her bottle this time instead of her bat, the redhead approached the door and threw it open.

Looking uneasy and extremely tense, Shane stood tapping his foot against the ground as his eyes met hers. Scarlett immediately frowned and her mood turned sour as she stared at the man.

"What do you want?" She demanded, eyeing the man carefully.

"Well that's no way to treat a friend, now is it?" He asked oddly, an edgy chuckle leaving his mouth.

"I'm treating you like this because you were an asshole at dinner," she replied, narrowing her eyes. "I was just about to sleep, this better be good."

"I'm sorry for asking questions that both you _and_ Rick should have been asking when we got here," Shane replied harshly, showing Scarlett more of his unhinged state that she'd seen glances of before. "You're the ones that wanted to come here, not me. This is on you two."

"Boohoo, we found a safe place to stay. Those comments could have waited till morning, Shane, and you know it."

Before Shane could give her an even angrier reply, the door of Scarlett's bathroom opened and out walked Daryl, clothed in similar attire to her; a white shirt and grey sweatpants.

"What the hell's goin' on?" He asked, approaching the two of them.

"Oh, good job, Holloway. You're screwing the redneck. _Real_ classy." Shane spat at her.

Scarlett gaped at Shane in bewilderment.

"How does him using my shower translate to the two of us sleeping together?" She demanded, eyes wide by the man's comment.

"You know what? Do what you want, I don't care," Shane scoffed, sneering at the two of them and completely bypassing her words. "I need you to clean up the cuts on my neck."

Scarlett knew what he was talking about; she'd seen them the moment she'd opened the door. Three long scratches, one on his jaw and two on his neck that were red and angry. They were fresh and it was almost like someone had attacked him.

Or perhaps the other way around.

"Let me get this straight," she laughed dryly. "You come here making accusations and insult me only to demand I clean up your cuts?"

Shane didn't respond.

"Go fuck yourself, Walsh."

Scarlett grabbed ahold of the door and attempted to close it, only for the man to stick his foot in the way to stop it.

"Holloway, come on-"

"Go ask Jenner for some rubbing alcohol and a band aide. Maybe see if he can pull your head out of your ass too."

"For fuck's sake-"

"You heard her. Get the hell out of here."

The door had been thrown open and Scarlett had never seen so much fear in Shane's eyes before. Scarlett only caught a glimpse of Daryl from the corner of her eye, but man did he look pissed. The younger Dixon had practically growled at the other man, and the redhead had never been gladder to befriend him.

With one last scowl, Shane turned and marched down the hallway. Scarlett closed the door with a soft click and let out a sigh. Shane always had a knack for getting under her skin, but this was just ridiculous.

"When I heard yelling I came out to help," Daryl spoke up. "Didn't look like you needed any though."

Scarlett couldn't help but chuckle at the comment, turning to glance at the man. He was glancing at her from the corner of his eye, almost as if he were silently asking her if she was okay.

"You scared him off, though. So thank you for that."

"You let me use your shower, was the least I could do."

"Not because you wanted to?"

"Believe me. The day that guy messes up, I'm gonna kick his ass."

"I mean, you could go after him now. He wouldn't see it coming."

"You're a bad influence."

"Only when I'm drunk."

A small smile played at the corners of his mouth as his eyes travelled down to the bottle in her hands.

"Are you gonna drink the whole bottle?" He asked.

"Lost the cork, what else am I supposed to do?" She replied with a shrug, retreating back into the room and plopping herself on the sofa. Daryl stayed near the door. "Can I ask you something?"

The man remained silent at the request, but came further into the room, to which she took as an affirmative action.

"Before Rick and I joined up with the group, was something going on with Shane and Lori?"

While she had been pretty certain about what the answer would be, Scarlett could only ask the question to someone who had been their while she hadn't. The awkward eye and the uncomfortable interactions that occurred between the two adults was something the redhead had noticed the day she'd arrived at the camp with Rick. Now, with the scratch marks on Shane's neck and face, it seemed that the person responsible was Lori, but it was out of character for the older woman to lash out physically. Scarlett could only pin it as self-defense.

She would need to speak with Lori in the morning.

"You think they were screwing?" Daryl questioned after a momentary pause.

"Yeah, something like that," she replied as she looked up at the man. "I mean, think about it. They were best friends before everything went to shit, but Shane's been nothing but hostile to Rick ever since he's been back. My guess is that Lori and Shane started a thing, thinking that Rick was dead, but now that he's back in the picture, Shane's pissed off that Lori went back to him."

"You're worried he's gonna do something stupid."

She couldn't deny it; she was a bit surprised by Daryl's insightful comment. He was on the same page as her and was keeping up with her rambling. Not that she ever thought he was slow, but he was a lot more observant than she ever would have thought.

"I think his hostility will put the group at risk, and I know Rick won't do anything because he still considers Shane his best friend."

The dark turn in conversation had the redhead sobering up, already feeling the oncoming headache approaching. Tomorrow was going to be a difficult one as it was, and now they had to deal with Shane's antagonism towards Rick.

"I'll keep an eye on him." Daryl stated, causing Scarlett to glance up at him in mild shock.

"Thanks. Honestly, thank you for everything."

"What do you mean?"

Scarlett let out a long sigh.

"I mean that even though I'm sure you'd rather be anywhere else than with this group of people, you still help out and make sure everyone's safe," she affirmed, seeing the slight surprise in his eyes. "I know you'd rather be out there looking for your brother. Trust me, I'd rather be looking for my sister, but staying together is important. Don't ever think it doesn't matter, you being here."

Scarlett closed her eyes and stifled a yawn, not bothering to check the man's reaction of her words. With her eyelids feeling heavy and her mind all clouded, she barely managed to open her eyes to look at Daryl.

"Get some sleep, Scar."

She gave him a small smile and a nod, watching through half open eyes as he left the room and closed the door behind him. It wasn't a lie, she was thankful that Daryl had stuck around and not gone off on his own. She genuinely enjoyed his company, no matter how much she denied it. In her eyes, he was a good friend who she looked forward to spending more time with.

Even though the hopeless look in Jenner's eyes would haunt her dreams, Scarlett was thankful that she had such wonderful people around her to keep her company while the world collapsed around them.

* * *

 _Done!_

 _Wasn't exactly sure how to end this chapter, but decided to keep the mayhem that happens the next day for the next chapter, and then we'll be done season one! Very excited for the chapters to come, currently brainstorming plot points. Can't wait to get to the Greene farm._

 _As always, thank you guys so much for reading, I truly appreciate it. Feel free to leave a review, I love to hear feedback or even if you just want to say hi lol_

 _I apologize if there are any spelling mistakes, sometimes my eyes pass over them without really registering the error._

 _Hope you're all doing well and I'll see you in the next update!_

 _Cheers,_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


	13. Breathing Fire

_Haha...ha...ha..._

 _Soooo I'm not dead? I guess that's good news? I cannot believe I've been away from updating for this fucking long I'm legit disappointed with myself. Had a bit of a rough patch but hopefully things will start to go back to normal. Hopefully y'all don't hate me ;-;_

 _Thank you to AltairMercer95, , FIREPHOENIXXD, Ice and Fire dragon, mamabrew, BrittneyBluebird, Cece12, DancingYoko, Short But Deadly, TheFangirlingNerd, Trixxi13 and TsukiBop for Favouriting/following the story. Hopefully you guys are still here for the journey lmao. I truly appreciate the support! (I apologize if I forgot to list any new readers!)_

 _For reviews,_

 _devoncarman: Shane is a prick and I literally feel my blood boil as the chapters go on lmao. I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the last chapter! Wasn't exactly sure how it turned out, but I'm happy you liked it. Like you said, this chapter here will be the last of season one, but I'm going to keep the series going on this same book. I feel like dividing it up will make things more complicated so the updates will continue to be here!_

 _I hope you all enjoy this chapter, not sure how it turned out but I feel like it was decent enough to post. Since I've been away for way too long since I've been on, I made this chapter pretty long compared to the last two updates. I pray that it was up to all of your standards!_

 _As always, I hope you guys are doing well. Ever since I wrote this chapter I came to realize how much I missed it. The moment my hands began typing I was like 'yep this is right' and hopefully I'll be able to pump out another update soon._

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

 _Daryl's Perspective_

Even though he was expecting it, the pounding in his head was as bad as it could be when the younger Dixon came to the following morning. He hadn't even opened his eyes when he felt the pain wrapped around his skull. There was an uncomfortable weight in his stomach that made the man groan softly and roll over carefully onto his back, only to see a white ceiling instead of the fabric of his tent.

Right. They were at the C.D.C.

The events of the previous night were still blurry, though a few things managed to be present in his memory. Daryl recalled drinking with everyone, hearing Jenner's story about the other doctors, having a broken shower and unexpectedly showing up at Scarlett's door. He even remembered Shane pretty much threatening the redhead to clean up the cuts on his neck, only for him to run away when Daryl stepped in.

Besides that dumbass saying some pretty stupid things, it had been a good night overall. A part of Daryl wished he could pin his content on the alcohol, but once again, he was starting to almost enjoy the company of the others in the group. Especially last night, when nobody gave two shits about anything and just drank to have a good time. Even those amongst the group who he believed had sticks shoved up their asses were somewhat pleasant to be around. As much as the thoughts irritated him, he couldn't deny that they held some truth.

Getting up proved damn difficult, all the signs of a horrid hangover were evidently running through his system. Daryl could always hold his alcohol, even when he'd had his first drink when he'd barely hit double digits. He recalled all the times he'd gone out drinking with Merle and his dumb-as-shit friends, always being the one to make sure that his brother didn't get into too much trouble.

The thought of his brother made him feel even worse as the man rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He needed to get some food into his system if he planned on actually making himself useful.

The walk to the dining area seemed a lot further than he'd thought the night before, but it didn't bother him much. It gave him an opportunity to wake up and clear his thoughts before he needed to deal with anyone today. Rounding one more corner, Daryl's eyes landed on the group all sitting around the same table as last night, eating away at eggs or bacon that T-Dog was giving out. Everyone looked like garbage, especially Glenn, who was hunched over his food and moaning in pain. Both Jacqui and Scarlett were by his side, trying to get him to eat his food. The red head looked to be in pretty rough shape as well, but looked up at Daryl and gave him a small smile. He nodded his head at her in return as he silently placed himself against the opposite wall.

"Don't ever, ever, ever let me drink again." Glenn groaned out, barely managing to shove some eggs in his mouth. Scarlett laughed softly at his request, only replying with a few pats on his back.

"'Morning." A gruff voice called, causing everyone to look up and spot an extremely hung-over Shane. Daryl could only feel his irritation rise the longer he looked at the man.

"'Morning," Rick replied. "Feel as bad as I do?"

"Worse."

The younger Dixon looked over at Scarlett to see the woman glaring at Shane's back with the heat of a thousand suns, only to look away when the man turned back around. Apparently Daryl was the only one to notice.

"What the hell happened to you?" T-Dog questioned, eyeing the marks on Shane's neck. The same ones he'd demanded Scarlett to look at the night before.

"Must have done it in my sleep." Shane stated as he sat down at the table.

"Never seen you do that before." Rick pointed out, giving his best friend an odd look.

"Me neither," the man replied, looking up at Rick and Lori. "Not like me at all."

Daryl understood what Scarlett was getting at last night. Now that she'd pointed it out to him, it was almost obvious that something had happened between Shane and Lori. He'd known that both Rick and Shane argued regularly with each other, which Daryl had thought to be normal, but hearing that it was most certainly not normal from Scarlett changed things. The tension between the two men and the woman was almost painfully easy to see now, causing Daryl to let out a quiet sigh. He couldn't afford to put up with much more bullshit, especially in his hung-over state.

"Good morning." Jenner's familiar voice reached their ears as he walked by the table.

A few courses of ' _good morning_ ' were said back to the doctor, though it didn't take long for Dale to speak up about the situation at hand. While the old man talked a lot, Daryl was glad that they had him to question things for the group.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing…"

"But you will anyway."

"We didn't come here for the eggs."

Not much else was said before Jenner was leading them back into the circular room he'd shown the group yesterday. Daryl had managed to eat up what little he could before they'd left for the larger room, trailing behind the others to watch from a safe distance away. When they did reach the room, Jenner was quick to pull up stuff on the computer.

"Give me a playback of TS-19."

The large screen at the front of the room began to light up, loading what Daryl could only assume to be a projection of some sort. The lights dimmed slightly as scans of what looked like a human brain showed up on the screen.

"Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few." Jenner explained as more information loaded onto the large screen. Currently, a virtual construct of someone's face was being shown to the group, which then revealed the brain within.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked, looking up at the screen in question.

"An extraordinary one. Not that it matters, in the end," Jenner replied before bringing his attention back to the screen instead of the young boy. "Take us in for E.I.V."

"Enhanced internal view." The robotic voice answered back as the image on the screen changed again. They were now seeing the person from the side, getting a clearer look at the brain as a whole. Daryl glanced around the room, seeing everyone's somewhat bewildered faces as they watched the screen. It was only when his eyes fell on Scarlett that he spotted a more serious composition on her face.

"What are those lights?" Daryl heard Shane ask, turning his attention back to the screen to watch as lights flashed along what looked like circuits of some sort.

"It's a person's life," Jenner replied simply. "Experiences, memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you. The thing that makes you unique. And human."

"You don't make sense ever?" Daryl asked, giving the doctor a confused look.

"Those are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages." Scarlett spoke up, eyes still locked on the screen.

"Correct," Jenner replied. "They determine everything a person says, does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death."

"Death? That's what this is? A vigil?" Rick asked as he approached the doctor.

"Yes, or rather the playback of the vigil." He answered.

"This person died?" Andrea questioned, looking between the doctor and the screen. "Who?"

"Test Subject 19," Jenner clarified. "Someone who was bitten and infected…and volunteered to have us record the process."

Daryl, once again, looked over at Scarlett to see the redhead carefully writing down notes on that small notepad she always carried with her. He recalled that she was trying to understand as much of the process of the bite as she could, and Jenner was giving her the answers to many of her questions and then some.

"Vi, scan forward to the first event." Jenner spoke up, calling out to the A.I.

Of course, Vi did as the doctor wished and the group watched as the screen changed back to the view of the person's head. Something about it this time appeared much different. A lot of the light within the brain was now black, those 'synapses' Jenner told them about were now beginning to drain of light.

"What is that?" Glenn asked, eyebrow's furrowed as he glanced at the doctor.

"It invades the brain like meningitis," Jenner answered, giving Glenn a quick look. "The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs. Then death."

The entire brain was now black, no flow of light circling everywhere like it had before. Someone's life had ended, and they'd just watched everything they were turn into nothing.

"Everything you were or ever will be…gone."

"Is that what happened to Jim?" The little girl Sophia asked, looking up at her mom.

"Yes." She managed to say calmly.

Daryl could see the sadness on many people's faces. Three in particular, actually. The first was Jacqui, who was silently letting a few tears slip down her cheeks. The second was Scarlett, who stared at the screen with almost a pained look on her face. And the final, most expected of them all, was Andrea.

"She lost someone two days ago," Lori spoke up, referring to the blonde. "Her sister."

"I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is," Jenner said as he reached out to Andrea. However, the man quickly evaded any further questions and returned his attention to the screen. "Scan to the second event."

Once again, the screen began to change but only by a small bit this time. The footage on screen began to fast forward.

"The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes," Jenner continued. "The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute, seven seconds."

Watching the screen carefully, Daryl saw what he could only describe as sparks flaring up at the base of the brain.

"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked, clearly shocked like everyone else in the room.

"No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving." Jenner answered.

"But they're not alive?" Rick stepped up to stand beside Jenner, eyes still on the screen.

"You tell me."

"It's not like before. Most of that brain is dark."

"Dark, lifeless, dead."

"The frontal lobe, the neocortex, everything that makes us human doesn't come back," Scarlett spoke up once again, this time her notepad gone as she approached the front as well. "They're just a shell of what they were before."

Daryl was shocked. He'd had a feeling that Scarlett was bright even from their first interaction, but he hadn't processed it until now. The girl knew her shit, and he could see by everyone's surprised faces that the group was realizing the same.

"Exactly. The 'you' part is gone. A body driven by mindless instinct." Jenner stated.

Eyes back on the screen, everyone watched as something shot right through the brain and the brain stem, killing the walker indefinitely.

"God, what was that?" Carol asked, eyes wide.

"He shot his patient in the head," Andrea spoke up in quite a monotone voice. "Didn't you?"

"Vi, power down the main screen and the work stations." Jenner called to the A.I., not answering the question just asked of him.

"You don't have a clue as to what it is, do you?" Scarlett asked, bringing her attention to the doctor like everyone else had.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal-"

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui spoke up, clearly distressed.

"There is that."

There was a long pause for a moment as everyone let the information sink in. Daryl was trying to wrap his head around everything, and he could tell the others were trying to do the same.

"Somebody must know something," Andrea spoke up. "Somebody, somewhere."

"There are others, right? Other facilities?" Carol asked.

"There may be some," Jenner replied, his voice lacking any hope. "People like me."

"But you don't know? How can you not know?" Rick demanded.

"Everything went down. Communications, directives – all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month now."

"So it's not just here," Andrea spoke once again. "There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?"

When the doctor didn't answer, Daryl found it hard to swallow. He couldn't believe that there was truly nothing out there that everywhere was just as bad as it was here. That meant the chances of being rescued were close to zero.

"Man, I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk again." Daryl said, rubbing the palms of his hands against his eyes. Might as well drink if there was nothing else to do, considering they all might die soon anyways.

"I have a question," Scarlett spoke up, eyes locked on something else other than the doctor. "Ever since we've been here, that clock over there has been counting down to something. What happens at zero?"

"I was gonna ask the same thing." Dale stated, looking between the doctor and the red clock.

Daryl hadn't noticed it until that moment, the giant red numbers counting down to something unknown to them all. The clock read only an hour, which meant that whatever was going to happen at zero was going to happen very soon.

"The basement generators, they run out of fuel." Jenner answered quickly before turning around and bringing his attention somewhere else.

"And then?" Rick asked, eyeing the doctor carefully. When the man didn't answer, Rick turned his question elsewhere. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." The robotic voice belonging to Vi answered back.

* * *

She wouldn't stop pacing, no matter who told her to sit down or to take a breather, Scarlett would not stop. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her eyes were wild with worry, Daryl could practically see the storm of thoughts rumbling around in her head. Everyone was anxious about Jenner's odd behavior and even weirder response to their questions regarding the clock. Rick, Shane, Glenn and T-Dog had gone down to the basement to have a look at the generators while everyone else had returned to the rooms for the time being. Daryl was currently leaning against the door watching as the redhead paced up and down the hall. Lori was also watching from her door, attempting to calm the other woman down.

"Scarlett, just stop for a minute, okay?" Lori asked, managing to grab ahold of one of the paramedic's arms.

"I can't, I need to think. Pacing helps me think." She muttered back.

"Think? About what?" Daryl questioned from his own doorway.

"Facility-wide decontamination happens when the power runs out. We don't know what the 'decontamination' part pertains to," Scarlett began rambling. "This is the C.D.C., which means that this sort of thing should not be taken lightly. What would you do with something that you would consider 'contaminated'?"

"Get rid of it?" Daryl questioned.

"Exactly, but I don't know to what extent this facility is going to get 'decontaminated'. Are we talking spraying the facility down with a cleaner or something much worse?"

"What do you mean worse?" Lori asked, but before Scarlett could give her an answer, the doors to multiple rooms opened and interrupted their conversation.

"Why is the air off? And the lights?" Carol questioned.

Everyone watched as Jenner emerged from his own office and began walking down the hall, paying the group no mind as he passed.

"What's going on?" Daryl questioned, looking around at everyone

"Energy use is being prioritized." Jenner replied simply.

"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asked, genuinely confused.

"It's not up to me," the doctor answered. "Zone 5 is shutting itself down."

As everyone began following the man to wherever he was headed, Daryl needed answers and they all needed them now. Everything was beginning to power down, only to fuel their worries.

"Hey! What the hell does that mean?" He yelled after the doctor. "Hey, man. I'm talking to you. What do you mean it's shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?"

"You'd be surprised."

Once again, they'd all entered the central room where the main computers were. It appeared as though everything was offline except for that current room. Descending the stairs that lead down into the circle of computers, their group met up with Rick and the others.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick demanded in a curt voice.

"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power," the doctor explained. "It's designed to keep the computers running until the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule."

The doctor pointed at the large clock, and like he said, there was only a half-hour left until decontamination of the whole building. Everyone was glaring daggers at the man's head as they all came to a stop behind him. Daryl quickly looked over at Scarlett to see her anxiously scratching at her hands, her stare blank as she was lost in thought.

The younger Dixon ripped the bottle of booze out of Jenner's hand as he gave him the most hateful look he could muster up.

"It was the French." The doctor said after the pause in conversation.

"What?" Andrea questioned, confusion written all over her face as well as with the others.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know," Jenner clarified. "While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution."

"What happened?" Jacqui asked.

"Same thing that's happening here," he answered. "No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuels. I mean, how stupid is that?"

"We need to get out of here." Scarlett hissed over at Rick.

"Let me tell you-" Shane began going after the man, only for Rick to push him away.

"To hell with it, Shane," Rick said before turning back to address everyone. "Lori, grab our things. Everyone, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!"

Just as the group was about to make a break for their rooms to grab everything, alarms began blaring all around them. The lights turned red and Vi's voice rang out through the facility as the clock began running down on the large screen in front of them as well.

"Doc, what's going on here?" Daryl yelled at the man in the white coat.

"Everybody, y'all heard Rick," Shane began giving out orders. "Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!"

The sound of metal doors closing rang out with a sharp _clang_ , shutting off their access to anywhere in the facility, which also meant that their access of an escape route was now closed off as well.

"Did he just lock us in?" Daryl heard Glenn call out to the others, his rage skyrocketing. "He just locked us in!"

"You son of a bitch!" The younger Dixon yelled out, making a beeline for the doctor. The amount of anger he was feeling was almost nothing compared to anything else he had ever felt. This was supposed to be a safe haven for them, and the doctor had let them in only to keep them locked in. Daryl managed to only grab onto Jenner's collar before Shane and T-Dog pulled him away.

"Hey, Jenner. Open that door now." Rick demanded as the younger Dixon continued to struggle.

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed."

"Well, open the damn things!" Daryl yelled back.

"That's not something I can control. The computers do," Jenner stated. "I told you, once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that."

"We didn't think we'd be paying entry with our lives!" Scarlett shouted, speaking up for the first time in a while. "We asked for a chance. This isn't a chance, this is suicide and homicide!"

"W-what do you mean?" Glenn asked the redhead, as everyone turned their attention to her.

"Something bad is going to happen, I just don't know what," Scarlett replied in a calmer voice. "We need to be out of here before the decontamination or we're as good as dead. What happens in 28 minutes, doctor?"

"How would you-?"

"What happens in 28 minutes!?"

"Do you know what this place is!?" Jenner finally broke down and yelled right back in the redhead's face. "We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!"

Everyone had gone quiet at the outburst from the doctor, nobody knowing how to continue forward. Scarlett continued to glare horribly at the man in front of her. Daryl was a little shocked by how firm she was being, not that it bothered him at all. She wanted to get out as much as anyone else did.

"In the event of a catastrophic power failure – in a terrorist attack, for example, H.I.T.'s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out." Jenner said in a much calmer voice.

"What are H.I.T.'s?" Rick questioned, drawing closer to the doctor as well.

"Vi, define."

"H.I.T.'s are high-impulse thermo baric fuel air explosives that consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration of any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

Daryl had only registered the explosives part and was trying his hardest not to lose his mind. They were trapped and were going to die in less than thirty minutes with no way out. He wouldn't get to see another day after this.

The younger Dixon looked around the room. Every face was either full of dread or covered in tears, the knowledge that their fate had been sealed weighing too heavy for some to understand. They were going to die and they couldn't do a single thing about it.

"It sets the air on fire," Jenner was mumbling. "No pain. An end to sorrow, grief, regret. Everything."

* * *

Scarlett's Perspective

She should've known from the moment they'd walked into the C.D.C. and come across Jenner that something was off. The redhead had assumed that the man was simply antisocial and didn't know how to communicate with others after being all alone for over a month. Instead, he'd known that things would turn out this way. She'd played off the dread in his eyes as something to do with seeing so many suicides take place, rather than the approaching explosion that was going to wipe them out in less than a day. She should've turned them around and gone with another plan.

Except, they didn't _have_ another plan. This had been their only one, and if they hadn't entered the C.D.C., they all could have died just the same. However, if they'd fended for themselves and not gotten in, at least there could have been a chance that some of the group would live on.

But instead now they were here, all fated to die in a fiery explosion that would kill them in an instant with no way out.

It made Scarlett so angry that she was surprised that there wasn't smoke coming out of her nostrils. While her only goal was to find her sister, Scarlett's concern was for the rest of the group. Every single one of the people here deserved to live on and get a chance to survive rather than opting out in an explosion. Hell, there were _children_ here with their whole lives ahead of them and they were doomed just the same. The worst of it was that this had been her plan, and while Rick might have made the ultimate call, this had been her idea. Maybe if they'd gone to Fort Benning they would've had a chance.

The smashing of glass could be heard from across the room, causing Scarlett to glance over at the locked doors. Alcohol dripped down the metal doors and pieces of the bottle remained on the floor, to which she could only assume to be Daryl's handiwork. People were either sat with their loved ones or pounding away at the door in an attempt to break through. Scarlett sat near Andrea and Jenner, across from Lori, Carl, Carol and Sophia, staring off into space in the hopes of not hating herself anymore than she already did.

"Open the damn door!" She heard Daryl yelling to the doctor.

"Out of my way!" Shane called out, an axe in hand as he started pounding away at the door. It barely left any marks on it. Daryl joined in not a second later with his own axe, hacking at the door like their lives depended on it, which it really did.

The sobs coming from Carl, Carol and Sophia only seemed to get louder as the minutes went by. Scarlett couldn't bring herself to look at Lori, feeling the older woman's gaze on her every now and then. She wasn't sure if she was angry or afraid, but Scarlett was too scared to look up and find out.

"You should've left well enough alone," Jenner began again, speaking in a mindless ramble at this point. "It would've been so much easier."

"Easier for who?" Lori demanded harshly.

"All of you. You know what's out there; a short, brutal life and an agonizing death," the doctor answered, gazing over at Andrea for a moment. "Your sister, what was her name?"

"Amy."

"Amy. You know what this does. You've seen it," the man then looked over at Rick. "Is that really what you want for your wife and son?"

"I don't want _this_." Rick hissed back at the doctor.

Yet another pause in conversation followed, the air filled with anxiety and dread as Scarlett focused her eyes and glared at Jenner. He was trying to play the empathy card and she wasn't buying it. The more the man tried to persuade them into thinking mass suicide was a good idea, the more she wanted to break his nose. This wasn't the man's decision; he couldn't expect them to hand over their lives that easily, could he?

"Can't make a dent." The sound of one of the axes banging against one of the computer stations brought everyone's eyes to Shane's worn-out figure. It appeared that both him and Daryl had ceased their attacks on the door.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner stated calmly.

"Well your head ain't!" Daryl yelled as he charged at the doctor once again, axe high above his head ready to take the man's life. Both Rick and Shane shot forward, managing to stop the younger Dixon before he could get any closer to the doctor. T-Dog was the one to finally pry the axe from Daryl's hands before things went quiet again.

Scarlett couldn't even bring herself to get up to calm him down. She was trying hard to keep her own panic under control, her eyes flickering over to the clock every once in a while only to feel her stomach drop even lower each time.

"You do want this," Jenner stood up from his chair, continuing the conversation from before. "Last night you said you knew it was only a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."

While that brought Scarlett out of her daze, it only sent her into shock. She looked up in confusion at her good friend, ready to see him deny the accusation made by the doctor. It was only when she saw the stony look on Rick's face that she felt her breath pause momentarily.

 _He'd actually said that?_

"What? You really said that?" Shane was the first one to question, which didn't surprise Scarlett much. "After all your big talk?"

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick replied harshly, attempting to explain his actions to a horrified Lori and the rest of the group.

"There is no hope. There never was." Jenner spoke up again.

"There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere-"

"What part of 'everything is gone' don't you understand?" Andrea argued, giving Rick a cold look.

"Listen to your friend, she gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event-"

"Okay, enough."

Scarlett stood up quietly from her seat and stretched her limbs, trying to keep her temper in place as she looked at the doctor. Her thoughts had finally been organized.

"I don't give a damn if 'everything is gone', what do you think the term 'rebuilding' means? We pick our asses up off the floor and push on," Scarlett stated firmly. "I also don't appreciate the fact that you're going after everyone's weak points just to convince us all to partake in a mass suicide. That's low, even for you."

"How are we supposed to rebuild with nothing?" Jenner questioned.

" _We_ are not nothing," she countered. "And if this really is 'our extinction event', I want to live on in spite of all that. I want to laugh in the face of whoever is pulling the strings. I want to find my baby sister and spend some more time with these people, even if it's only for a little while longer."

All of her words were true. She wanted to continue on no matter how much the future would hurt, no matter the consequences. They all still had more time to spend in this world. Whether it be another day or another month, there was time, and Scarlett needed to get out of here with everyone by her side, but it all came down to Jenner.

And this group, she needed to spend more time with them. Scarlett wanted to know all their quirks and what makes them all tick, know about what their lives were like before the outbreak, and ultimately, she wanted to grow close enough to call them family.

Scarlett couldn't tear her eyes off of the doctor, watching every small emotion that ran across his face. There was something there, behind the dead look in his eyes that told her that a part of the person he used to be remained before them. That would be the key to getting them out of here.

"This isn't right," a shaky sob escaped from Carol. "You can't just keep us here."

Jenner's gaze fell on the crying woman, his eyes returning to that emotionless state.

"One tiny moment – a millisecond, no pain." He tried to explain, but Carol continued to shake her head vigorously.

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this." She cried out, holding Sophia close to her body.

Scarlett felt her jaw clench as her eyes flew over to the clock once again. They had just over ten minutes to make it out of the building, and she didn't know how much of that time could be spend to convince Jenner to let them go.

They needed to get through to him now.

"Wouldn't it be kinder? More compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" The doctor questioned, seeming genuinely confused.

"Jenner, please-"

The cocking of a gun caused Scarlett to stop mid sentence, turning quickly to watch as Shane approached the group with an extremely angry expression ingrained on his face and a shotgun placed firmly in his hands.

"Shane, no!" Rick demanded, attempting to push his friend back with little effort.

"Out of the way, Rick!" He yelled back, vicious eyes fixed on Jenner as he pushed the other officer out of the way and pointed the barrel of the gun down at the doctor. "Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?!"

Scarlett quickly approached, placing herself in between Shane and the doctor, a deep frown on her face. While there was a good chance that he would shoot Jenner regardless of her body blocking his, she wasn't going to let him fuck things up. Shane was an even bigger idiot than she had previously thought.

"Scarlett, what the fuck are you _doing_?!" She heard Glenn yell from her left, but didn't have a chance to look over at him.

"Holloway, move." He snarled at her.

"If you want any chance of getting out of here, we're going to need him to open the doors," she hissed back at him. "So I suggest you put that thing down before something bad happens."

Shane's glare seemed to only get more malicious after her words, the gun raising slightly almost to get a reaction out of her. All Scarlett could do was swallow harshly.

"Brother, this is not the way you do this," Rick attempted to calmly talk Shane down from his angry high. "Listen to her, or we will never get out of here."

"Shane, you put that gun down." Lori demanded in agreement.

"It's too late." Shane mumbled back.

"If he dies, we all-"

A violent and furious yell erupted from Shane's mouth, startling Scarlett horribly to the point where she let it be known on her face. In that moment, she wasn't so sure that Shane cared that she was in the way and would shoot regardless. Eyes locked on the barrel of the gun, Scarlett managed to let in a ragged breath before she saw it twitch in Shane's hands.

As a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her harshly out of the crossfire, Scarlett watched as Shane turned to begin firing at the computers and electronics, and thankfully, not the doctor. Heavy breaths escaped her lips as Rick battled with Shane for the shotgun, which was still spray bullets, every other second. Scarlett looked over to see whom the mysterious hand was attached to, not exactly surprised to see Daryl with a deep frown on his face.

She couldn't tell if the look was reserved for her or for the commotion in front of them.

By the time she turned around, her eyes fell on Shane's form lying flat on the ground while Rick stood over him, shotgun in hand.

"Are you done now?" Rick demanded through heavy breaths.

"Yeah, I guess we all are." Shane spat back.

Scarlett watched as Rick took a few steps back and handed over the shotgun to T-Dog, his attention falling on the group soon after. She knew that each terrified face was imprinting itself into the man's brain, and for a slit second she thought he was going to give up hope as well.

But then again, she knew Rick to be better than that.

"I think you're lying."

Rick's words sent confusion through everyone in the room, especially Jenner.

"What?" The doctor asked.

"You're lying," Rick continued. "About no hope. If that were true, you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?"

"Not because I wanted to," Jenner replied, standing up from his chair to face Rick. "I made a promise…to her. My wife."

Scarlett blinked a few times, lips parting slightly at the new information.

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" She questioned, an eyebrow raised.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no? She was dying," the doctor answered. "It should have been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just…Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me."

"Your wife didn't have a choice…" Rick began. "But you do."

"All we want is a choice, a chance." Scarlett continued, eyeing the doctor in an attempt to ignore the clock running farther down into the single digits.

"Let us keep trying as long as we can." Lori pleaded.

Scarlett could practically see the doctor's demeanor change slightly, though it was extremely subtle. The man gazed around at all the terrified faces and finally let out a sigh.

"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those."

Jenner quickly walked past both Rick and Scarlett, watching as the man approached one of the few machines that Shane hadn't blown to pieces earlier. A small keypad remained on the side, to which he hit a few buttons before hesitantly pressing the large red one in the middle.

Instantly, the large door that had locked them in the room opened, revealing the long white hallway behind it.

"Come on!" Daryl yelled as everyone began gathering their things and rushing towards the exit.

"Let's go!"

"Move it!"

Everyone was rushing towards the doors while both Scarlett and Rick turned towards the doctor.

"There's your chance, take it." Jenner said calmly.

"Thank you." Scarlett let out a sigh. He'd actually given them a chance.

"I'm grateful." Rick said after a moment.

"The day will come when you won't be."

Scarlett frowned at the man's words, only to be brought into a small circle with the two men as the doctor whispered to them. As she listened to Jenner, she forgot how to breathe. She couldn't hear a thing, only the Jenner's words and the faint yells from the other's that were only a few feet away. Bile was rising in her throat and the urge to be sick was incredibly strong. She wanted to push the man away, but the information was too important to miss, no matter how traumatizing it was.

"Hey! We've got four minutes left! Come on!" Glenn's voice broke Scarlett out of her trance, feeling her friend yanking her away from the doctor towards the door. She quickly gave Jenner a dazed look before turning around and making her way to the exit with both Rick and Glenn by her side.

"No, no, I'm staying!" Jacqui's voice broke through the calamity amongst the group, only to render everyone silent. T-Dog, who had been ushering her towards the door, looked baffled by her words. "I'm staying, sweetie."

"But that's insane!" He told her, attempting to grab her arm again.

"No, it's completely sane! For the first time in a long time," she stated firmly. "I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy."

"Jacqui-" Scarlett tried to start, only to be cut off by the woman.

"There's no time to argue and no point, not if you want to get out. Just get out."

Scarlett could feel even more dread sinking into her bones as she could only stare at the woman who had been nothing but kind to everyone. Jacqui was bright, and had been extremely helpful when the two women had been looking after Jim. Scarlett owed her a lot, and now she wanted to go up in flames with the doctor.

"Dog. Come on, man." Shane began pulling a very startled and distressed T-Dog away from Jacqui, who quickly turned around and went to go sit with the doctor amongst the computers.

"I'm staying too."

Andrea's voice echoed through the room as well, and all Scarlett could do was stare at the woman as Dale called for her to come with them.

"Just go! Go!" Dale yelled to the rest of the group.

"Come on." Rick said to everyone as they ran through the hallways.

Scarlett lost count of how many flights of stairs they'd ran up and couldn't find it in herself to worry about the ache in her tired legs. Her brain was trying to register everything that had happened in the last ten minutes and was struggling to focus on the task at hand. She couldn't exactly remember how they'd gotten up to the main floor, wincing slightly at the sun that was coming in through the windows. All she remembered were the stairs and someone thrusting her things into her hands.

"Get those doors open!" Rick yelled out to the others.

While a few of the men went hacking away at the last set of doors and windows, Scarlett knew they wouldn't leave a scratch. Similar to the door that had kept them locked in downstairs, they would need something more powerful if they wanted to break them open.

And this time they didn't have a magical button to open them up.

She couldn't continue to watch the others helplessly bang against the windows, quickly turning to face Rick to voice her concerns.

"We need something more powerful, this won't do." Scarlett said to him after watching Shane send shotgun shells into the glass, only to do nothing.

"Rick, I have something that might help." Carol spoke up, approaching them with her hand rustling around in her pack.

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Shane replied dryly, which made Scarlett want to curse him out but bit down on her tongue instead.

"The first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform, I found this in your pocket." She continued, pulling out a grenade. The same one that Rick had taken from inside the tank back in Atlanta was probably going to save their asses from a fiery explosion.

"Carol, you are a gift," Scarlett gave the woman a grateful look before bringing her attention to the others. "Everyone back away from the windows! Now!

Everyone in the group took cover and hit the ground as Rick made his way over the window with the grenade in hand. Scarlett took cover beside Glenn and Carol, covering her head as they waited for the grenade to go off.

"Oh shi-" The sound of Rick's rushed footsteps was cut off by the close proximity explosion. Scarlett could feel the heat radiating from behind them, but the sound of glass shattering and clattering to the ground had her looking towards the new hole in one of the large windows.

"Holy shit." She mumbled, eyes wide as everyone scattered to their feet and began rushing the hole.

"Come on!"

Scarlett didn't need to be told twice before she got up and made her way towards their new exit. She helped get the kids and Carol down considering that there was a bit of a drop, being one of the last ones to leave the building. Thankfully, it was Daryl who helped her down when everyone started running towards the vehicles.

"Thanks." Was all she could mutter before they took off after the others, watching as some walkers began coming their way due to the sound of the grenade. Gunshots rang out as some of the group began firing at the walkers in their path. Scarlett kept an iron grip on Stella as she swung at any undead that came her way, Daryl beside her swinging one of the axes that he'd become so familiar with now.

Once they'd reached the cars, Scarlett gave Daryl a nod before disappearing into the RV with Rick, Lori, Carl, and Glenn. Rick slid into the drivers seat and worked on getting the car started as Scarlett collapsed beside Glenn.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! They're coming." Lori breathed out, pointing out the front window of the RV.

Scarlett peered over Rick's shoulder to get a look at what the woman was pointing at, only to see both Andrea and Dale jumping out of the shattered window. Her anxiety remained high however, worried that the explosion would go off any minute now. She sent Lori a panicked look, which automatically had her opening the window to yell at them as Rick leaned on the horn.

"Dale, get down! Down!" Lori screamed at them before Scarlett pulled everyone to the back of the RV for cover. She didn't know how much it would do to keep them from the explosion, but she prayed it was enough.

And then she felt it. The ground was shaking before the feeling of heat wafting through the RV overtook the sound of the windows of the C.D.C. blowing out, an explosion so loud that it rocked the vehicle and everything around it. It sounded and felt like absolute chaos outside, seeing the orange hue of the flames through the windows caused Scarlett to go slack jawed in awe. What Jenner said had been true; it had set the air on fire.

The loud roar eventually died down, and Scarlett was the first one to venture forward to the front of the RV to get a look at the destruction. Where the C.D.C. once stood remained a pile of flaming rubble, dark smoke circling above and becoming one with the sky. All the walker corpses and army vehicles were charred black, the smell of hot concrete and burning flesh filling everyone's nostrils.

When she spotted that both Dale and Andrea were okay, Scarlett almost fell over.

"Glenn, get the door open." She muttered, to which her friend complied and threw up the door to the RV for both Dale and Andrea.

The two were covered in soot as they both collapsed in their seats by the side table, absolutely exhausted. Scarlett swore she saw some tension between the two, a heated glare directed at Dale by Andrea's tired eyes, but she didn't have the energy to pry. In fact, she gave Rick a soft pat on the shoulder and retreated to the back before collapsing onto the cushions across from where Jim once remained.

Closing her eyes, she heard the rubble of the engine and felt the RV begin to move once again. At this point, she didn't give a shit as to where they were going. All Scarlett wanted was to get away from the mistake that had been their visit to the C.D.C. The mistake that had been her very own idea.

Hearing soft footsteps approaching the back where she was resting, the sound of someone sitting down on the opposite cushions had Scarlett's eyes fluttering open softly. Sat there remained Glenn, one of the few people she'd ever had the pleasure to call a good friend, staring at her with a conflicted gaze. It was obvious that he wanted to speak with her, otherwise he would have let her be, but she was nonetheless worried about what her friend had to say.

"Why did you do it?" He asked, eyes fixed on her face.

Scarlett frowned slightly. What was he getting at?

"Do what?"

"Get in between Jenner and Shane when he had a damn shotgun pointed at you," he clarified, furrowing his eyebrows. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that if we wanted to get out of there, we would need Jenner alive and without his head blown off," she explained, slowly sitting up and facing Glenn properly. "Plus, I don't think Shane would have shot me."

"Okay, first of all," Glenn let out a huff of air, frustration riddled across his face. "There were so many other ways to go about protecting Jenner. Putting yourself in danger should have been a last result. Second, have you _seen_ Shane lately? That guy is losing it!"

"It was the only thing I could think of doing!"

"Yeah? Well maybe next time think about what it would do to everyone if you died."

"What, cause I'm a paramedic?"

"No, because you're Scarlett."

The redhead froze, taken back by her friend's words. At first, she was a bit confused. Of course it would be difficult on anyone in the group to have one of their own pass away, but what was Glenn getting at? She wasn't anyone special, she never had been. If she bit the dust, the group would still continue on regardless of her presence. She was just another body in the fray, but it was if her friend was suggesting otherwise, as if she were respected and loved by the group just as much as she felt respect and love for them. While she wasn't foreign to feeling those emotions, it was definitely new to receive them in return. She couldn't even think of which actions had supposedly earned respect from the others, because she never thought of it as earning her way into the group. It was simply a matter of staying alive and protecting the people who still had a heartbeat.

Glenn was staring at her nervously, as if he was unsure of the emotions running through her mind.

"Look, just – the next time we're in danger? Try and think of yourself too." He sighed, slowly standing up from his seat and beginning to retreat back to the front of the RV. Almost as a reflex, Scarlett caught his wrist and stopped him from leaving.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, feeling like she owed her friend an explanation. "I'm just new to this."

"New to what? Having people care about you?" Glenn laughed softly, as if it were a joke. "I find that hard to believe."

Scarlett felt extremely vulnerable, as her eyes remained down casted on the floor, her pale fingers still wrapped around his wrist. It wasn't like she felt that Glenn would pity her over something that's so normal for most people, but she still felt vulnerable nonetheless, her pale fingers still locked around his wrist as if she were trying to find a way around her own tangle of thoughts.

"What about family?" He asked as Scarlett glanced up to see his eyebrows knit together in disbelief.

"Just my sister." She answered simply.

"Friends?"

"I only talked with Rick, Lori, and Shane."

"Coworkers?"

"I kept my distance."

Glenn's eyes had widened ever so slightly as the new information dawned on him when she released his wrist. She'd never really discussed her life when things were normal to anyone in the group, despite those who had been in it before shit hit the fan. Only the mention of her sister had been brought up a few times before, but the rest of her remained a mystery to the others.

"We'll, that stuff doesn't matter now," Glenn finally spoke up, causing Scarlett to blink in confusion. "You have all of us, not that you really need a hand with anything, but know that this group looks after each other. I'm sure you've already seen a lot of that."

All she could do was nod.

"Get some rest, okay? One of us will wake you if anything happens." He concluded, giving her a small smile.

With that, Glenn turned and left Scarlett to be alone with her thoughts at the back of the RV. Her rather bright mind was having a difficult time understanding all the things her friend had said to her. Human connection had evaded her for the longest time, with isolation and introversion being her two best friends. She was starting to think that she needed to be open with those around her, no matter how much it made her uncomfortable. If she planned on learning about the rest of the group, she would have to put something on the table as well.

Her goal had been to find her sister, and while that was still high on her list of priorities, Scarlett came to the conclusion that she needed to adjust things a bit, because if what Glenn said was true, she had a much larger family to look after now then before.

* * *

 _Season One is complete!_

 _I honestly can't thank you guys enough for all the support you've given me over these past 13 chapters. I remember when I first posted a chapter on here I was terrified of how it would be received, because I honestly didn't know how good or bad my writing was (still don't know if it's that good or not lol). So thank you for all the kind words and support, I truly don't know how I got so lucky._

 _I will do my absolute best to have another update soon, cause I'm just as anxious to get onto season 2 as you guys probably are. I'll probably write up the beginning of the next chapter after I post this, which will hopefully kickstart everything and get my lazy ass working._

 _As always, thank you all so much for your time and I look forward to seeing you in the next update!_

 _Take care,_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


	14. Herd On the Highway

_Hello everyone!_

 _I can't even begin to explain to you guys how many times I've rewritten this chapter. The writing Gods had sentenced me to eternal torment with this damn chapter and I finally said "SCREW IT" and just sat down to edit it. I hope it turned out okay for you guys, and I apologize that it took a lot longer to get out than what I had originally planned. I almost thought about breaking this chapter into two parts but figured you all deserved a decent-size chapter from the procrastinator that I am._

 _A huge thank you to Garrawolf, BloodyKirai, Lee Slayra Rogue, loverofcreepythings, MajorKO, Harlie 09, TheAmazingMaya, and lpwdfan for favouriting/following the story! As I've said before, the support you guys show means the world to me, so thank you very much!_

 _For reviews,_

 _devoncarman: ah, your reviews always make me so happy! God bless you, seriously. Your feedback helps me to actually sit down and write, so thank you so so much! I'm glad you thought the ending to season 1 turned out well, I was pleasantly surprised as well. Season 2 is gonna be a shit show lol I'm very excited to write it and to improve Scarlett's relationships with everybody, especially Daryl. Haven't planned it all our yet, but I'm usually pretty good at thinking out plot points on the spot. Thank you so much for the kind words! xo_

 _Well, I'll stop my yapping and let you guys get to the chapter. A lot of shit goes down in this one so hopefully it's not too all over the place for you guys._

 _Here's to the beginning of season 2~_

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

She knew immediately where she was. Even in the darkness, even with the old flooring and worn yellow wallpaper that hadn't surrounded her in years, she knew _exactly_ where she was. It was how she remembered it; the dusty front windows, the ragged rug that remained on the floor under the oak coffee table, the couch that had one too many holes in it, the crumbling brick around the unlit fireplace. To fresh eyes, nothing about the living room appeared too damaged, but her own worn ones recognized every flaw.

Everything in the old living room had been under the gaze of Scarlett's eyes to the point where she could reimagine the place from the ground up. Some people, most normal people, would consider this to be odd. She would never argue with that, but when it came to avoiding her father's eyes, she'd rather count the loose threads on the rug or memorize the patterns on the walls until she saw stars.

 _This isn't real._

Even with her father not in view, Scarlett was uneasy. Memories of how their living room had looked before had her stomach turning over on itself. She had broken out in sweats without really realizing it and the sudden urge to vomit hit her like a freight train. She was paralyzed even before she heard the slam of his bedroom door upstairs.

 _This isn't real. It's just a dream._

Tarring at her hands violently, she could feel the blood gathering under her nails as she heard each step he took down the staircase. With her face remaining emotionless, she could hear the man's prayers dripping off of his lips in soft whispers. She wanted the cry; the sound of his hushed religious chants causing fear and dread to spread through her veins like wildfire. His heavy footsteps came to a halt and Scarlett somehow found it in herself to look over in his direction.

His face was warped into something hideous and barely recognizable. He held a single candle in his hand, the slight tilt of his neck giving her the impression that he was examining her. She had stopped breathing altogether.

 _Don't, please don't…_

The candle blew out, a quiet sob bubbling up from the depths of her throat. She couldn't hear or see anything, the darkness suffocating her as if she had a noose tied around her neck. Except it wasn't a noose, it was a hand.

And his voice spoke to her.

" _'Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.'_ "

* * *

As she sat up in her bed, alarm running through her system, the forest green surrounding her blown out pupils met the curtain-clad windows of the RV. The wheezing that escaped her mouth rattled through her bones and the sweat that dripped down her neck spilled along the collar of her shirt. When she glanced over to spot an alarmed T-Dog staring right back at her, a groan escaped her lips as she placed her head in her hands.

Scarlett wondered why one could never close their eyes in their dreams.

"Are you alright?" She heard him ask, worry wrapped around his words.

"Yeah just – give me a second."

While she was distraught to the core, all Scarlett could feel was disappointment. It had been a while since she'd had that nightmare and had begun to think that she was past it all. A part of her hoped this was a one-time thing, but she knew better than to believe that. With one came many, which immediately informed her that she would be getting no sleep over these next few weeks.

The ragged hum of the engine told her that the group was still on the road, headed for Fort Benning. A day and a half had passed since the fallout at the C.D.C. and most people had gathered what was left of their wits and continued on. The dread was still easy to see, playing at the corners of everyone's eyes, but they kept going forward. There wasn't much else to do anyways.

Feeling the sting at the back of her left hand, Scarlett winced as she gazed down at it, only to see four jagged lines running along her skin. Small pearls of blood had made their way to the surface, but other than that she would be fine.

A frown molded onto her lips. She'd never before scratched her hands hard enough to draw blood. Sure, red marks and burning were a common occurrence, but this was on a whole different level.

The familiar sound of the hose giving way had them rolling to a stop, Dale's curses ringing through the whole RV. T-Dog quickly got up to check and see what the deal was, most likely trying to get away from whatever mess was brewing between Scarlett's eyes. All she could do was let out a shaky breath as she slowly got up from her cot and walked to the front of the vehicle as well.

Looking out through the front window and onto the highway, the first thought that came to Scarlett's mind was 'graveyard'. Cars were littered along the road as far as the eye could see, abandoned by those still living. The only movement she could see was from where the rest of the group stood just outside the door to the RV, staring at the smoke that rose from the engine.

"I said it, didn't I say it?" She could hear Dale cursing as she left the RV to join the rest of them. "A thousand times. Dead in the water."

"Problem, Dale?" Shane asked, not even looking at the man as his eyes remained on the highway in front of them.

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of-" Dale had begun explaining, but his words fell silent as everyone took a moment to look around at their surroundings. While their passage through the highway might have been blocked, the abandoned cars around them held plenty of things to scavenge through. To put it simply, one man's loss is another man's treasure. Daryl had been the first one to jump on this philosophy. "Okay, that was dumb."

"If you can't find a radiator hose here…" Shane trailed off, still observing the sight in front of his eyes.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl concluded, still digging through the trunk of the closest car.

"Maybe siphon some gas from the…?" Scarlett began; only to see T-Dog with a gas can and a hose in his hands, ready to go. "And he's already on it."

"Gotta be faster than that, firecracker."

She let out a soft chuckle as approaching footsteps reached her ears, causing her to glance over her shoulder to see the rest of the group walking their way. They all looked tired, but seemed to understand the situation at hand from the tail end of the conversation.

"We should try to find some water." Carol spoke up timidly, Sophia by her side.

"And food." Andrea threw in.

"This is a graveyard."

Scarlett didn't even need to look to know who had spoken. She'd known almost the second that they started scavenging that Lori would not be keen on it. The former paramedic understood; the older woman wanted to respect the dead, not sort through their belongings for their own benefit.

However, they needed food and water. They'd been running extremely low on consumables and if they didn't find anything of the sort in the next few days to come, the outcome would be more or less catastrophic on their health.

"I don't know how I feel about this." Lori mumbled to Rick.

The only thing the redhead could do was sigh, being the first one to wander off amongst the cars despite Lori's negative view on their situation. They needed supplies, and if that made Scarlett a grave robber in the older woman's eyes, then so be it.

"If anyone finds any medical supplies, please bring them to me." She called out to the group before turning on her heel and beginning her search.

Everyone split up to do their own thing. Scarlett wasn't exactly sure what the others were getting up to, but she figured whatever was taking up their time would be a valuable resource for the group. These people weren't stupid, and they'd know to keep something important if they came across it.

With Stella tucked under her arm, the redhead was looking specifically for medicine. Painkillers, gauze, anything she figured would come in handy if she needed to fix someone up. Of course she still had some supplies in her bag, she hadn't really needed to save anyone's life as of yet. She prayed she wouldn't need to anytime soon.

After going through two cars that were full of only bloodied clothes and the bodies in which the blood had come from, Scarlett had come across kids toys in the third. Thoughts of the gas station that both her and Rick had come across a little while back came to mind, remembering all the tents and the scattered playthings around them. It had felt horrid back then and it still did now.

She'd almost turned away from the car at the memory, but her tired eyes had fallen on something interesting. A medium sized box sat amongst the bloodied luggage in the back seat of the car, it's exterior made of wool that appeared to be knitted by hand. Scarlett recalled seeing something very similar in her mother's room when she had been younger, and if it held the same contents that had been found in her mother's, then maybe the paramedic had acquired a bit of luck.

Grabbing ahold of the box and placing it on the roof of the car, Scarlett managed to smile at the sight inside.

"That a sowing kit?"

Being too occupied with the box in front of her, Scarlett had barely registered that someone had approached her from behind. Even though she heard them coming, it was still difficult to hold back any sort of surprise.

Looking over at him on her left, Scarlett sent Shane a mild glare.

"Yeah," she replied simply, only to watch him raise his eyebrow in mild amusement. Her frown deepened at the sight of his smug expression. "Don't give me that look."

"I thought you were supposed to be looking for medical supplies."

"I am, so unless you want me stitching you up with dental floss, I'd shut up if I were you."

"You expect me to believe that you can stitch someone up with thread from a sowing kit?"

"Wouldn't be the first time."

By the pause in their less than pleasant conversation, Scarlett could tell that her words had confused him.

"What, the hospital didn't provide you with proper stitches?" Shane tried to joke, seemingly still confused.

"I did it before working at the hospital, idiot."

"On yourself? Why would you need to stitch yourself up with thread?"

Now she was the idiot. She'd walked herself right into a corner without even realizing it. She couldn't exactly come out and give him the reason behind knowing how to stitch someone up using alternative methods. Telling that story to anyone was out of the question, especially Shane.

"None of your business." Scarlett managed to say calmly before grabbing the needles and thread from the kit, turning her back to him and moving on to the next car.

She expected him to continue pestering her for answers, but it seemed that even Shane knew when to leave something be.

Shoving the needles and thread into her back pocket, Scarlett went through a few more cars before the stench finally got to her. In her endeavors, she managed to come across a few half empty bottles of aspirin, a couple boxes of Band-Aids, a container of alcohol wipes, tweezers, a third of a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and a thermometer. While it wasn't much, it was definitely more than Scarlett had thought she'd come across.

Grabbing a small bag from one of the cars and dumping its contents into the backseat, she filled it with her findings. Pausing momentarily, she spotted Glenn and Shane hunched over a car, most likely looking for the spare part for the RV. On her way over to them, her eyes fell on the larger truck parked behind the two men. It wasn't until she got closer that her eyes could make out the words on it's back.

"Hey, you find anything good?" Glenn asked when she finally reached them.

"Yeah, a few things," Scarlett mumbled back, eyes still fixed on the truck. She dropped her bag beside Glenn's feet and walked around the side of the large vehicle, spotting a leaver at the bottom to open it up. "Shane, could you give me a hand?"

The man seemed caught off guard by her request before he glanced at the writing on the truck, his eyebrows raising as he slowly approached her.

"Better not get our hopes up." He muttered to her as the both of them grabbed a hold of the leaver.

"I'm trying real damn hard not to." She replied, and the two of them managed to pull up the metal door of the truck.

She took one look at the contents of the truck and started laughing.

"Glenn," Shane mumbled out, his stunned gaze still on the liters of water packed into large jugs. All remaining untouched by the world. "Were we short on water?"

Managing to stop her small laughing fit, Scarlett sent Glenn a smile as she watched him freeze at the sight before him. When Shane popped open one of the containers to dose his face with the wonderful liquid, Glenn started laughing too.

"Hey! Save us some." Glenn said through his laughs.

"It's like being baptized, man." Shane said back, a large smile on his face.

Scarlett managed to move the man out of the way to get a taste of the water as well, letting the clear liquid run over her dirty face and through her sweaty locks. When it came into contact with her hand, she felt the sting almost immediately, remembering the scratches she'd given herself not too long ago. She winced softly at the feeling but nonetheless rubbed her hands together under the water. She couldn't remember the last time she'd washed her hands and the thought made her cringe more than the cuts on her hand had.

Stepping out from under the water with Shane taking her place, Scarlett's gaze fell on Glenn, whose content face was now one of mild concern.

"What did you do to your hand?" He asked her, nodding his head down at the appendage.

"Did it in my sleep." She replied honestly, looking down at the four red marks.

Glenn gave her an unimpressed look and held out his own hand to her, ushering for her to show him the injury. A sigh of defeat passed through her lips before she placed her hand in his.

It only took him a few seconds of inspection before he spoke again.

"Jesus, Scarlett. You should really clean that up." He said as she pulled her hand away from him.

"It's fine. I don't want to waste the gauze." She replied simply.

"Do you even remember what we talked about a few days ago?"

Scarlett winced slightly at his words. She remembered what they'd talked about all right; she'd probably never forget it. He'd somehow managed to plant it in her head that the rest of the group cared about her as much as she cared about them. The thought made her feel selfish, like she was giving into untrue facts just to make herself feel better. However, if she was making the group worry about her well being when she was doing nothing to help herself, that would be selfish of her as well.

Another defeated sigh escaped her.

"I'll wrap it up when we get back to the RV, alright?" She stated, a hint of a smile playing at her lips as she saw Glenn nod at her.

"Good."

As she was about to make a crack at her friend, the sight of Rick crouched down and hurriedly making his way towards them had her freeze. She watched as he said something to Lori and Carol, before he turned and met her eyes.

Panic. Something was wrong. Rick pointed down at the ground before crawling under one of the cars near his wife. Scarlett turned to warn Shane, but the man had already grabbed ahold of both her and Glenn, shoving them under the large water truck.

"What?" Glenn hissed at Shane. Scarlett was squished between the two men, but she couldn't muster up a complaint. All she could do was throw a hand over Glenn's mouth and watch forward for whatever was coming.

Then she saw them. First it was only one pair of slow shuffling feet, then another, and then ten more, and then another dozen. A whole herd was headed towards them, all they could do was hide and wait for them to walk by. Scarlett could only hope that everyone else was taking cover too.

Slowly taking her hand off of Glenn's now silent mouth, Scarlett managed to slide her hand down to her belt, freeing the hunting knife that was strapped on the opposite hip as her Colt. She brought it back up and kept it a firm grip on it as the first wave of walkers began shuffling past their truck.

Both men on either side of her attempted to get as far away from the sides of the truck and the dozens of undead feet beyond them. All Scarlett could do was turn on her side to give them more room, no matter how uncomfortable she felt being squished between them, she'd rather that then be walker food.

The familiar moans from the undead had her closing her eyes, trying to focus on her breathing rather than the impending doom that was waiting for them only a few feet away. After a few minutes, the shuffling and moans began dying down, fading off into the distance behind them.

It was only when it got completely silent that both men moved away to give Scarlett some breathing room. Glenn managed to send her an apologetic look, but they were both too busy trying to listen to see if the coast was clear.

The sound of someone screaming and crying reached their ears, to which Scarlett gave both men a panicked look. It sounded like Sophia, Carol's little girl, who had most likely caught the attention of a walker. The three of them rolled out from under the truck and quickly made their way over to where they'd heard the screams, only to find a sobbing Carol holding on to Lori for dear life.

"Lori, there's two walkers after my baby!" Carol cried out, the other woman trying to calm her down.

"Shhh," Lori muttered back. "Rick went after her. He'll get to her before they do."

"Is everyone else okay?" Scarlett managed to say through her heavy breaths.

"Andrea had a run in with a walker in the RV," Dale said, causing everyone to give the man a panicked look. "She's alright, but she's shaken up pretty bad."

"I'll go check on her."

Scarlett carefully jogged through the cars, keeping an eye out for any walkers that might have wandered away from the heard. With none in sight, the redhead slipped into the RV with ease.

Andrea sat on the floor of the vehicle, covered in blood with a screwdriver in her hand. When Scarlett had entered, the blonde had stiffened and raised the small tool in defence, only to burst into tears at the sight of the former paramedic.

"Shhhh, it's alright," Scarlett said as she crouched beside her. "Let's get you cleaned up."

Heading to the back of the RV, the redhead managed to find a few rags to wipe away the blood that seemed to cover Andrea from head to toe. Even when she got down to cleaning the blonde of the red liquid, there always seemed to be more than the last time. She sat their silently as Scarlett cleaned her up, quiet tears rolling down her cheeks that the former paramedic wiped away too.

Scarlett hadn't really had a chance to talk to the blonde about what happened back at the C.D.C., how she'd been ready to throw her life away in a fiery explosion. Of course, Scarlett couldn't imagine the pain Andrea must have been going through after the death of Amy, but she was almost positive that suicide was not the answer. They still had time on their internal clocks as far as Scarlett was concerned, and she would make sure that everyone lived for as long as they could.

She'd almost finished when the door of the RV was violently thrown open, revealing a panicked Glenn.

"Scarlett, T-Dog's hurt real bad."

The redhead turned to give Andrea a pained look, but the woman only shook her head in response.

"I'm fine. Go." She said faintly, and those simple words had Scarlett running to the back of the RV to grab her first aid kid before bolting outside.

Scarlett followed Glenn past a few cars before coming to a stop, spotting the group standing around T-Dog, who was leaning against one of the cars with his shirt soaked in blood. When she saw the huge gash running up his forearm, she knew it was his own.

"Fuck," was all she could say as she crouched beside him. The man's eyes were barely open and he looked ready to pass out at any moment from blood loss. Not having the time to gingerly look at the wound, she quickly grabbed his arm and took a look at the wound more carefully. "Shit, you nicked the artery. Shane? Go grab me one of those water jugs and Glenn, I need you to go grab that bag of supplies I gathered today. Please be quick about it."

The two men ran off to gather what she asked for, leaving her be to sort through her bag. The wound was still pooling with blood, which meant that her first job would be to stop the bleeding. At least he hadn't completely severed the artery; otherwise he would have been dead by now.

"How did this even happen?" She attempted to ask T-Dog, but the man was barely functioning.

"He sliced it on a car door."

Scarlett managed to spare a second to look up a Daryl, who was watching her carefully. She could see mild flecks of worry in his eyes.

"Did you bring him here?" She asked him, turning back to T-Dog and keeping an iron grip on his arm.

"Yeah."

"Would you mind holding his arm level? We need to keep as much blood in him as we can. He's already lost way too much."

Without a word, Daryl dropped his crossbow and crouched down beside her, grabbing ahold of the man's bloodied arm and doing as she had asked of him.

Thankfully, both Shane and Glenn returned with the water and her supplies and placed them beside her.

"Shane, can you lift that jug and pour some of the water onto his gash? Not too much, but enough to wash away the blood," Scarlett asked, sending the man a quick glance. "I need to see if anything is still stuck in his arm."

"Yeah, sure. Of course."

Shane quickly undid the cap on the jug and lifted it over T-Dog's arm, tilting it just enough so that the water could spill out. The moment the water hit his wound, T-Dog immediately winced and groans of pain began falling from his lips.

"Okay, that's good. Thank you." She said as she bent over his wound. As she peered into the large gash, Scarlett reached her clean hand into her first aid to grab a few sheets of gauze.

As soon as she saw nothing foreign in his arm, she unfolded the gauze sheets and placed them over the injury. Since the gash was essentially the length of his forearm, she could need both hands to keep the pressure. The blood soaked through almost immediately.

Informing Daryl to let go of T-Dog's arm, she rested his arm on her thigh and attempted to clean as much of the blood away as she could. She hadn't really realized that she'd gone quiet until Shane had spoken up.

"Holloway, do you need us to do anything else?"

"No, I'll be fine," she said, eyes still fixed on the wound as she threw away another gauze that was completely soaked in blood. "I should be able to get this to stop soon. You go find Rick and make sure Sophia is okay."

Nobody argued with her and with a quick glance up, Scarlett watched as Shane, Daryl, and Glenn disappeared into the woods in search of Rick and Sophia.

A soft sigh left her lips as she looked around at the others. Lori was still holding on to Carol, who continued to sob horribly. Carl was staring at T-Dog's wound in a mixture of awe and horror. Andrea was still in the RV, which meant the only able body in proximity was Dale.

"Anything you need?" The older man asked as he sat down beside her on the pavement.

"Yeah, would you mind passing me that tape?"

* * *

She couldn't have been luckier to come across that sowing kit when she had. Since she didn't have any closure strips, medical staples, or sutures, closing up T-Dog's arm would have been almost impossible without her needle and thread. It had taken longer than she'd liked for the bleeding to stop, but once she'd managed, she began stitching. Dale had made himself busy by attempting to keep T-Dog awake and when Andrea had emerged from the RV, she sat by Scarlett to give her a hand.

No one else could watch as she stitched the wound up. The redhead knew that she needed to do single stitches on opposite ends of the wound in order for it to come out as clean and proper as possible, under the circumstances at least. Wiping down the needle with one of the alcohol wipes, Scarlett had then begun pushing the needle through both flaps of skin. Andrea looked ready to be sick the moment she had begun, and Dale's eyes had widened double the normal size. Scarlett wasn't exactly enjoying it either, but the one who was really suffering was, of course, T-Dog himself. Every stitch had the man crying out softly, too weak to really make any real sense of the situation. Thank god he hadn't looked down at his arm, because Scarlett was almost positive the sight alone would have made the man pass out for days.

After finishing with the stitches, which came out rather well, she wiped around the wound with a wet cloth before placing two sheets of gauze over the stitches. Then, after acquiring the tape from Dale earlier, fastened the gauze to his arm and came to the conclusion that was the best she could do. She could only hope that the wound would stay infection-free, otherwise they'd be in deep shit.

Watching as Dale practically forced T-Dog to drink some water, Scarlett began wiping her hands free of the man's blood. The slightest touch of the alcohol wipe against her scratches had her wincing horribly, but she needed to get the blood off whether she liked it or not. The alcohol wipe was already bright red and ready to be thrown out. With a sigh, she grabbed another one and continued wiping away, regardless of the pain that shot through her hand.

Glenn and Shane returned soon after, their eyes full of concern even though they were trying their best to hide it. They approached her first before speaking with anyone else. After all, it was just T-Dog and her at the moment. The others had gone off to do something else.

"How we doing?" Shane asked, looking over at T-Dog, who was currently resting.

Scarlett lifted her hand and placed two fingers against the side of the man's neck.

"Good." She sighed when she felt a pulse.

"Did you stop the bleeding?" Glenn asked, his worried eyes on her own tired ones.

"Yep. Stitched it up with a needle and thread. He should be okay, I think." Scarlett said back, scratching at her temple mindlessly.

"Well I'll be damned." Shane muttered.

"Told you it would come in handy," she gave him a look before addressing the both of them. "Any luck finding Sophia? Where's Rick and Daryl?"

"They found her prints, so the two of them are tracking her down," Shane explained with a sigh, eyes squinted as he gazed at the sunny sky. "We're gonna continue scavenging up here on the highway for now."

"Glad we have Daryl for these kinds of things." Glenn mumbled.

"About time the son of a bitch came in handy." Shane replied, only to cause Scarlett to frown.

"The man can shoot a dozen squirrels in an afternoon and you think he's only handy now?" Scarlett gave a half-hearted chuckle.

"Well of course you think he's all great." He shot back at her, completely destroying the bit of humour they were sharing a moment ago.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She demanded, her anger slowly building up.

"Okay, let's knock it off. She just finished stitching up a dude with a needle and thread, and we got shit to do besides argue." Glenn spoke up before anything else could happen. Scarlett was mildly impressed; perhaps her friend was coming out of his timid shell.

With a huff, Shane stormed off to god knows where and Scarlett didn't really give a shit. She wanted that man as far away from her as humanly possible, but she supposed a couple hundred feet would do.

Glenn raised both his eyebrows at her before a sigh escaped his lips and he walked off to most likely find Dale.

"What was that about?"

Lori had appeared from around one of the cars, a few small items in her hands that she'd probably gathered from a few vehicles. All Scarlett could do in response was sigh.

"It's Shane, what do you think?"

"Drama."

"Bingo."

The two women remained in comfortable silence for a little while, simply enjoying the sunshine around them.

"How's Carol doing?" Scarlett asked after a moment, slowly getting up from her place on the pavement.

"Not well, but she did stop crying for now," Lori responded, rubbing the space between her eyebrows. "I pray that Sophia is alright."

"She's a tough little girl from what I've seen," she stated, staring at her red-stained hands. "I'm sure she's been through worse."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, Lori. I might be new to the group but I'm not blind. Ed was an abusive prick to the both of them, and God knows how long that was going on for," Scarlett said bitterly. "A part of me is more than pleased that he's gone."

"You're not the only one," the older woman sighed, leaning against one of the nearby cars that didn't have blood on it. "I just hope things will get better from here on out."

"Me too, Lori. Me too."

That was all the two women had to say on the subject. Scarlett could see the worry brewing in the older woman's eyes, but didn't push her to voice her concerns. Lori would come forward if she wanted to discuss anything, especially regarding what was going on with her and Shane, so the redhead didn't pry. However, if Shane continued to stir shit up, Scarlett was going to have that conversation sooner than later, whether Lori wanted to or not.

After a while, the group began making itself busy once again. Shane and Andrea were moving cars off the highway in order to make a path for their convoy of cars, Dale continued to work on the RV, and everyone else got back to scavenging for supplies. With Glenn's help, Scarlett had managed to move T-Dog into the RV so he could rest on something more comfortable than the pavement. She would check in on him every once in a while to make sure he was stable, and she spent the time in between sat atop the RV with binoculars fastened to her searching eyes. Keeping an eye out for Sophia was top priority, and so was making sure that another herd didn't creep up on them again like last time. Every time she spotted a rustle of bushes or heard the occasional sound, Scarlett's heart would pick up in the hopes of it being the little girl. The paramedic couldn't imagine being out there on her own at that age, let alone with walkers wondering around.

And then there was Carol, standing at the side of the highway staring off into the tree line. The woman hadn't moved since the attack on her daughter, eyes looking desperately amongst the trees to find her. It was heartbreak; Carol had already been through enough with Ed, and now the fact that her daughter was missing made it seem like the whole world was against her. Nothing was going right for her, and Scarlett felt a deep sense of sadness for her.

It was only after she'd spent five minutes staring at a rustling bush at the far end of the highway, only to reveal a small rabbit come out instead of a little girl, that Scarlett noticed that Carol had moved. The woman was now standing at the front of the RV, eyes locked on Dale in confusion.

"Why aren't we all out there looking? Why are we moving cars?" She asked him tensely, arms wrapped around herself as if she were cold.

"We have to clear enough room so I can get the RV turned around as soon as it's running," Dale attempted to explain to the distraught woman. "Now that we have enough fuel we can double back to a bypass that Glenn flagged on the map."

"Going back's gonna be easier than trying to get through this mess." Shane commented, appearing from around the side of the RV.

"We're not going anywhere till my daughter gets back." Carol answered in a much calmer voice than Scarlett was expecting. The woman had every right to be hysterical at this point, but she was holding together pretty well considering the situation.

"Of course not." The paramedic said from the top of the RV, catching some of the group off guard by her presence.

"Scarlett's right. That goes without saying." Lori confirmed as she rested a hand on Carol's shoulder. Everyone was starting to gather in front of the RV after another scavenging run, which made Scarlett hang her legs off the side of the vehicle to take part in the conversations to come.

"Rick and Daryl, they're on it, okay?" Shane spoke up after a moment. "It's only a matter of time."

"Can't be soon enough for me," Andrea approached the group, speaking up for the first time in a while as she tossed Glenn a water bottle. "I'm still freaked out from that herd that passed us by, or whatever you'd call it."

"Yeah, what was that?" Glenn asked, undoing the lid of the bottle in his hands with a furrow in his brow. "All of them just marching along like that."

"Safety in numbers probably," Scarlett threw in, which seemed to confuse a few people. So she continued. "Better chance of getting a meal if there's more than a dozen walkers against a few of us. Or maybe they just congregate because they all hear the same sound, which would lead to them all wandering off mindlessly together."

"A herd. That sounds about right," Shane mumbled to himself as he nodded at the redhead's words. "We've seen it. It's like the night the camp got attacked. Some wandering pack, only fewer."

"All we know is that they're dangerous, so we better keep our wits about us." Scarlett concluded, eyes staring at the tree line wearily.

"Agreed," the man sighed, which surprised her. They were actually _agreeing_ on something? "Alright, come on, people. We still got a lot to do. Let's stay on it."

Again, the group dispersed and Scarlett let out a sigh. Things honestly seemed to only get worse and worse. She wasn't the most optimistic of people, that was Glenn's job after all, so looking forward into the future or past always made her melancholy show through. However, living in the moment wasn't the most pleasant either. All she could do for the time being was keep a watch out for walkers. Peering through the binoculars, she did just that.

Scarlett hadn't realized how much time had passed until the orange glow of the sun was slowly sinking behind the horizon. The sound of movement from inside the RV had pulled her from her thoughts, a frown of concern on her lips. Leaning over the side of the vehicle, the redhead watched as T-Dog slowly made his way out of the RV.

"What do you think you're doing?" Her words startled the man, causing him to turn around and glance up at her.

"Damn it, Scarlett. You scared me!" T-Dog breathed out, trying to shake the surprise from his bones.

"You should be resting." She informed him, eyebrows furrowed as she watched him with concern.

"I've been resting all day. I want to help find supplies."

"You tore open your arm and lost almost half of your body's overall blood. The only thing you should be finding is some sleep."

"Scarlett, please. I'll go out of my mind if I have to sit around doing nothing."

The former paramedic sighed. While T-Dog didn't look great, he sure as hell looked a lot better than he had a few hours ago. She understood his need to want to help out better than anyone honestly, and saying no was going to prove more difficult.

"No heavy lifting. If you start to feel anything that seems off, you stop what you're doing and come find me. If I find out from the others that you're not doing great, I will drag your ass back to this RV myself and strap you to the back bunk. Got it?" She informed the man, eyes narrowed to insure he understood her warnings. There wasn't anytime to take risks with health, especially now.

"Yes, ma'am."

With a huff, Scarlett watched T-Dog saunter off to speak with Shane about the supplies. Her former friend sent her a look of concern after exchanging a few words with the injured man, but the redhead simply nodded. Scarlett could tell that Shane was weary of letting T-Dog work with his injury, but the man had her permission as long as he followed her instructions.

After a while, Scarlett's thoughts wandered towards Rick and Daryl. It had been hours since they'd left to go search for Sophia, and a part of her was worrying that they wouldn't come back. It was irrational, feeling that way when she knew both men were capable of taking care of themselves, but the thought of that herd made her uneasy. What would happen if the two of them ran into more walkers than they could handle? She hoped that neither of them would try and be the hero, putting themselves in danger. That was more likely to happen with Rick than Daryl.

The sound of someone climbing up the side of the RV registered in the back of her mind, but she kept her eyes forward on the long stretch of highway ahead. It would be dark soon, and she hoped the two men would be back in the next hour or so, but before her mind could dive into that horrid thought, a head of blonde hair came into her peripheral view.

Andrea didn't say anything to her at first; she only sat there to watch the sunset as well. Scarlett could feel the frustration coming off of the other woman, and immediately knew that she wanted to talk.

"How are things?" The first words that left the blonde's mouth sounded tired, which wasn't exactly a surprise.

"I truly don't know how to answer that question," Scarlett replied dryly, taking a sip from her water before eyeing Andrea. The woman's face was warped with irritation. "You seem peachy."

"Dale took my gun and won't give it back."

Scarlett already knew, she'd heard the argument about an hour ago. She probably could have said something, but figured it wasn't her place. However, now that the blonde was sitting beside her obviously wanting a conversation about it, the redhead would have to say her bit.

"My father gave it to me as a gift and he has no right to keep it away from me." Andrea continued, glaring at the horizon.

"I'm going to assume that you're still angry about the C.D.C. thing." Scarlett concluded, watching as the other woman turned to finally meet her gaze.

"Of course I'm angry. He tricked me into leaving when I'd already made my decision!"

"I'll agree with you on the fact that what Dale did wasn't exactly fair…" Scarlett managed to get out, but paused at the end. She'd had a lot of time to think about what had happened back at the C.D.C. and what Andrea's choice had been, but talking about suicide was always a tricky subject. Scarlett had her opinion on the topic, and knew it would be hard for Andrea to hear.

"I'm sensing a 'but' somewhere in there." The blonde said, her tone a little more curt than before.

"You're not going to like what I have to say, so I'm just going to leave it at that."

"Scarlett, for Christ's sake, just tell me."

The redhead bit at the inside of her cheek, watching the blonde carefully. Andrea was asking her to pick a side, to tell Dale that what he did was wrong, but Scarlett couldn't completely agree. There were faults on both sides, and she let out a long sigh before looking Andrea in the eye.

"What you do with your life is ultimately your decision, no one else's. You're the only one who can figure out how much is enough, and losing your sister was a big blow. Finding out from Jenner that the world is essentially doomed was the final straw and he gave you a way out, but in my opinion, your decision to stay was the wrong one," Scarlett explained calmly, watching as the blonde's eyes twitched at her final comment. Andrea looked ready to argue, but Scarlett held up a hand before she could speak. "You wanted my opinion, I'm giving it to you. Suicide is never the option, ever. Nobody should sit around waiting for death, and I know it's hard living knowing what is and isn't in this world, but that still should never drive you to end your own life."

Anger and sadness were the only thing's Scarlett could see in Andrea's eyes, the confliction between which emotion to act on was easy to spot. The redhead waited for the other woman to yell at her, to say that she had no idea what she was going through. She was even expecting a slap at that point, ready for whatever reaction drove the blonde to act. Andrea couldn't meet her eyes.

"I still want my gun back." The blonde finally uttered, gaze directed anywhere but where Scarlett was sitting.

"Have you been properly trained on using one?"

"Look, just because of-"

"I'm not asking because of what happened at the C.D.C. All I want to know is if you've ever had training."

Andrea paused for a long moment. She didn't look pleased with her answer.

"No."

Scarlett nodded slowly, and as she was about to open her mouth to speak once again, Glenn's voice cut through the otherwise quiet dusk.

"Oh God, they're back."

Words dying in the back of her throat, both women atop the RV turned to look towards the trees. Relief washed over Scarlett as she saw that both men had returned in one piece, but the lack of a little girl with them had her quickly descending back down onto the pavement. Everyone approached Rick and Daryl as Carol quickly began panicking once again.

"You didn't find her?" The woman muttered, her breaths coming out in short huffs.

"Her trail went cold," Rick explained, climbing over blockade at the side of the road, Daryl right behind him. He sounded extremely exhausted. "We'll pick it up again at first light."

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night out in the woods." Carol answered, tears building at the corners of her eyes and threatening to spill at any moment.

"Out in the dark's no good," Daryl spoke up, surprising everyone a bit. "We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost."

"But she's twelve. She can't be out there on her own," Carol continued to try and convince them to go back out to find her, but her pleas were pretty much pointless. "You didn't find anything?"

"I know this is hard, but I'm asking you not to panic," Rick pleaded with the woman, catching on to her rattled cries that only seemed to get louder. "We know she was out there."

"And we tracked her for a while." Daryl threw in.

"We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody," Rick turned his attention to the group. "I've asked him to oversee this."

"Is-is that blood?" Carol stuttered, eyes cast down at the younger Dixon's boots. Even in the last light of day, Scarlett could definitely see that it was blood that had stained his boots.

"We took down a walker." Rick said calmly, but it only made her panic more.

"A walker. Oh my god." Carol muttered, eyes distant as she leaned against the railing along the side of the road.

"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia."

"How can you know that?"

Neither men said anything for a moment, the both of them looking at the other as if debating amongst themselves. To Scarlett's surprise, Daryl was the one to speak up.

"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure."

Even though she thought the act itself had been smart on both men's behalf, Scarlett could only close her eyes and cringe. Cutting up a walker's insides was next to last on the list of things she wanted to avoid doing if possible, and hearing that they had done just that made her shutter. Upon opening her eyes, people's reactions were nonetheless the same as hers.

Lori had taken a seat beside Carol on the metal railing, gently rubbing the woman's back in circular motions. Carol looked ready to pass out, but instead turned her pained and melancholy eyes to Rick.

"How could you just leave her out there to begin with?" She whispered to him, her sadness now turning into that of anger. It surprised everyone, seeing the usually quiet woman taking it out on the group's leader. "How could you just leave her?"

Scarlett frowned before she could control it. Rick had risked his life to go after Sophia and get those walkers away from her. She knew that Carol was lashing out without better judgment but she was being unreasonable. The redhead bit the inside of her cheek to remain quiet.

"Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was her best chance." Rick explained, a pained expression on his own face. Obviously the man felt bad enough as it was, he didn't need the mother of the child that was lost going after him too.

"Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol." Shane spoke up, once again having his best friends back. Scarlett still found it odd.

"How was she supposed to find her way back on her own. She's just a child," Carol sobbed, still giving the man heat. "She's just a child."

"It was his only option, Carol. He did what he could with the little time he was given." Scarlett said calmly, watching the woman carefully.

"I'm sure nobody doubts that." Shane said.

A moment of silence passed through the group with all eyes on Carol, who was getting more distraught by the minute.

"My little girl got left in the woods."

With those final words, Scarlett realized that anything that would be said to Carol would be left incoherent to her frantic ears. It was difficult to blame her; the only person she had left in her life was Sophia, who was now god-knows where in the deep woods with the dead walking around. While she had been quiet about it for a while, she had settled on blaming Rick for the whole thing and was now sticking with it. It was only when the man himself got up and walked away that Scarlett felt herself get angry. She was angry with the situation, angry that the walkers had gone after a child of all people, angry that Rick and Daryl had had to waste their whole day looking for Sophia only to come up with nothing, and finally, angry that Carol was pointing fingers. In other words, Scarlett was conflicted and struggling to deal.

But something in the tree line had her heart stop beating and her head going blank. Something had moved amongst the vegetation and tall trunks, but had disappeared before she'd had a good look at it. At first she'd thought it had been Sophia, but the shape had been too large to belong to the young girl. It couldn't have been a walker because it had moved too fast and was now nowhere in sight. She wanted to pass it off as a trick that her mind had played on her, but it had felt too vivid, too real. The unmistakable feeling of dread that washed over her had her breaths coming out it short puffs, eyes still locked on the trees.

 _What in the world had she seen?_

The feeling of a hand wrapping around her shoulder had her jumping slightly, her gaze pulling away from the trees before her. Tired blue eyes stared back into her tense green orbs, the panic in her system leaving at a surprising fast rate and turning into calm haze.

"What's wrong?" Daryl asked her after a moment, removing his hand from her shoulder and following her gaze into the trees.

"I thought I saw something." Scarlett said with a sigh, noting that they were the only two standing by the edge of the road. The rest of the group must have wandered off to do their own things.

"You seem pretty shaken up from somebody who only saw 'something'." He replied, looking at her from the corner of his eye.

"My asshole mind is playing tricks on me," she concluded, wanting to talk about anything else besides what she thought she saw. "Thank you for helping Rick look for Sophia."

"You shouldn't be thanking me. We didn't find anything." He huffed, a grim look falling over his tired face.

"Spending a whole day tracking a little girl with the dead walking about and essentially putting your life on the line deserves a thank you," Scarlett countered. "We're lucky to have you with us."

She didn't get an answer right away, which didn't exactly surprise her. Scarlett simply continued to stare at the trees, especially near the trunks. The feeling that the shadow she saw could come back at any minute had her twitching slightly, but the slight breeze was helping to calm her down. She needed rest, but she was almost certain that she wouldn't find any tonight.

"T-Dog's moving about."

Scarlett smiled to herself. Of course Daryl wouldn't say anything regarding her compliment. She'd noticed that he got quiet whenever someone spoke highly of him, which she found quite endearing. It was only then that she wondered if the reason he never reacted to the praises is because he never received them before. The thought made her sad.

"Yeah, I managed to stitch him up," she answered after a moment. "We can only hope he doesn't get an infection."

"He'll be fine. And if he does, he has you to fix him."

She blinked once, then twice, trying to register his words. Praise from Daryl Dixon? _That_ was definitely a first. While it was true that he was nicer to her than he was to everyone else in the group, she hadn't expected his kind words. It even got the corner of her mouth to tug upwards.

"Come on, you should go get some sleep," Scarlett said, deciding not to bring attention to the compliment for his sake. "We'll need to rest if we plan on going after Sophia in the early morning."

"You actually plan on sleeping?" He questioned, meeting her eyes again as if he were poking fun at her inability to find any rest. She let out a soft laugh.

"I'd like to, but I probably won't," she answered him honestly. "If you find yourself in the same boat, you know where to find me."

She'd been right. Sleep was something that evaded her and would continue to do so for a long time. With too many thoughts and no way to stop them, she ended up relieving Shane of watch duty halfway through the night. On top of the RV, where she'd pretty much made the spot her own, her eyes lingered amongst the stars. With no city lights nearby, she could pretty much see the entire galaxy laid out before her. It made her realize how insignificant she truly was, even in their messed up world, but she didn't mind. It calmed her down enough to find a sort of limbo, where no good or bad thoughts could reach her tired mind. It was lovely, something she hadn't felt in a long time.

The numb feeling wasn't shattered the moment she heard someone climbing up the side of the RV to join her. Already knowing who it was, she slowly adjusted herself to allow him more room atop the large vehicle. If it had been anyone else to disturb her, she would have regained her state of fatigue and anxiety in the blink of an eye. Scarlett would find this odd farther down the line, but in that moment she didn't care about peculiar things like that.

When he sat down beside her, they didn't talk or even glance at each other. The two pairs of eyes stared at the night sky in silence.

And she was okay with that.

* * *

 _Yaaaay, first chapter of season 2 is complete!_

 _Thank you all for reading, hopefully it turned out okay. Not a lot of interactions between Scarlett and Daryl, but it was more about her relationships with everyone else this chapter. Plus, a blast from Scarlett's past was hinted at and you'll be learning all about that this season which is exciting._

 _Also, I'm not a doctor and have no medical training whatsoever. When I wrote the scene in which Scarlett stitches up T-Dog, I don't know if it's medically accurate or not. I tried my best to do some research, but you can only know so much from looking up stuff on the internet lol_

 _Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed! If you did, feel free to leave a review cause I'd love to hear your thoughts._

 _I'll do my best to update with another chapter as soon as I can._

 _Take care,_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


	15. Revelations

**_{ Procrastination }_**

 _noun_

 _\- the action of delaying or postponing something_

 _\- for example: **this fucking story**_

 _Hey all..._

 _It's been a whole two months, probably more than that now, since I last updated and I honestly don't have an excuse. I could say that I was busy with work, or that I was struggling to figure out where I was going with the story and got overwhelmed, or a bucket-load of other things but in reality, I was just putting it off. I wanted to come up with a great chapter for you guys and I guess I just hyped myself up so much that everything I wrote just came out...blah._

 _So I stopped writing, for literally two months._

 _I honestly felt like I was going through withdrawal, but I felt it was necessary to get the creativity flowing again. I didn't want to force anything or write a half-assed chapter that I would regret later down the line. I also realized, which some of you might have considered obvious, that I need to stare physically planning my chapters ahead of time. You see, I do all the planning up in my head and follow the story line as close as I can in order to get my OC into the mix, but I never plan what's going to come out in the final draft. I don't plan every scene out like I probably should, so I'll do my best to begin doing that from this day forward._

 _Anyways! A big thank you to AltairMercer95, AnsCat, EllieDragon, Emerald Isis, Klarie88, Lorelei evans, RaysonInTheSun, Schlooper, StephJ, ThreeDarkAngels, elljayde, ninachr, salinagriego, sylph0fspace, butterflyangel1999, itsreagannn, reinhaus01, shaywilliams4151 and zubrowka for following/favouriting the story! I apologize for keeping all you new (and older) readers waiting for an update. I also apologize if I missed anyone!_

 _As for reviews._

 _FAIRY4LYFE: Hello there! For the most part, I'll be following the main story but I do have some things brainstormed that might pull Scarlett away from the main events but I haven't planned them all out yet. I truly want to build Scarlett into the story line as much as I can to make her feel like the other characters, but please let me know if you have any suggestions! xo_

 _EllieDragon: Holy smokes! Thank you so much for the review! You're truly too kind I don't deserve a reader like you ;-; One of the main reasons (there were a few) that caused me to actually post this fic was because of how underwhelming a lot of the relationships in the stories on this website between OC/Daryl are. I'm not saying that this stories going to be any better or that I have deemed EVERY Daryl fic this way, but I just wanted a relationship between an OC and Daryl that didn't come out of thin air and that was based on something. I'm a sucker for slowburn fics and this is definitely going to be one of them. I'm so happy to hear you love Scarlett, I'm trying to make her as bad ass as possible but still human, you know? Thank you for pointing out her lack of interactions with Lori/Carl, I'll work to integrate more in future chapters! And good lord your analysis of the father is very well done, but in order to keep it on the down low I can't tell you if you're correct or not until the reveal is here lol as for an update schedule *cough* lack there of *cough* it's really hard to say. I'm starting school in a week and if the workload isn't heavy I'll do my best to update as soon as I can. I do plan on going all the way to season 7 and on, it just might take a while LMAO anyways welcome to Blood in the Cut! xo_

 _Welp, hopefully this chapter isn't garbage. I was planning to post it a couple days ago on my birthday but I had a bit to drink and wasn't too coherent lmao plus I needed to edit._

 _Once again, I apologize for being on hiatus. Hopefully it won't happen again :D_

 _Here's to the new chapter~_

* * *

It had been Dale who had seen them on top of the RV the following morning, which didn't surprise Scarlett much. He was always the first one awake amongst the group and he had seen the two of them on watch before. However, each time Dale saw them, the older man would simply scrunch his face up in confusion, as if he were trying to figure out the most difficult, mind-boggling math equation in existence. When Scarlett said a soft "good morning" to him, the man gave her a baffled greeting in return before walking away.

The red head had turned to look at Daryl with puzzled eyes. He'd been too busy staring down the stretch of highway to really pay Dale any mind, which Scarlett was secretly thankful for. He probably would have given the older man a hard time for the continuous surprised looks whenever he spotted them together. It couldn't have been _that_ odd for Scarlett to spend some time with the younger Dixon brother, could it? The more she thought about it, the more she began to recall all the times the members of their little group gave the two of them questioning looks, or the off-hand comment that might come in its place.

It was only Daryl after all, not some rabid dog that would bite your head off with its sharp fangs and foaming mouth, but it appeared as if some of the group preferred the latter of those two options than the man himself. At least Rick was making an effort to work with him, especially now with Sophia missing since Daryl did have the most experience out in the woods.

To be fair, Daryl didn't exactly give two shits whether the group liked him or not. He could care less about getting to know the others as far as Scarlett could grasp, but his interaction with Carol the night before had shifted her mindset. The man had seemed ready to sit her down and talk her through everything they did and were going to do to find her daughter, and that alone made Scarlett realize that Daryl wasn't what he seemed.

Scarlett rolled her head down into her hands. She really should have tried to sleep last night.

"You having a mental breakdown or something?" She heard Daryl's scruff voice question from beside her.

"Trust me. You'll know when I'm having a mental breakdown." Scarlett muttered back, to which he let out a scoff.

"What are we talking here, a blubbering mess? Psychotic episode?" He pressed on, the humor in his voice dried out by the fatigue.

"Rage. Murderous rage."

"Huh."

With his short response, Scarlett turned her head to peer over at the man beside her only to see him staring right back.

"That's your reaction to someone when they tell you they get so angry they could kill people?" She questioned, dumbfounded and slightly amused.

"I can't tell if you're joking or not."

Pausing for a moment, she took in his words.

"I can't either."

The duo fell into silence once again, which was fine with Scarlett. A dull ache beat against her temples and her eyes felt dry, so taking the quiet moment to shut her eyes was much appreciated.

However, with the closing of her eyelids came a rush of her subconscious demanding answers for the questions that itched at the back of her mind. Would they be able to find Sophia? Could T-Dog stay free of infection with a wound that deep? How were they going to put a leash on Shane if he kept acting the way he was? And what in the hell had she seen amongst the trees yesterday evening?

"What'd you do to your hand?"

Daryl's words snapped her back to reality like an elastic band being released against skin. Blinking a few times, Scarlett looked at her bandage-clad hand.

"I, uh, scratched it in my sleep yesterday," she explained, stretching her fingers as she examined it. "Nothing serious, but Glenn insisted I wrap it up."

"You do that before?"

She gave a faint shake of her head.

"What was different this time?"

"I don't know," a sigh left her lips as she spoke. "Same bad dream as always."

Her face twisted into that of mild irritation as she continued staring at her injured hand. She was waiting for Daryl to press on regarding what had been tormenting her dreams, but he thankfully remained quiet. She couldn't tell if it was by the sour look on her face or if it was his intuition that kept him approaching the topic, but Scarlett didn't care. She was simply happy she didn't need to dive into the gritty details of it all.

As the silence between them continued, the sun rose higher in the sky and along with it awoke the rest of the group. Hearing soft rustling coming from the cars where the others had been resting, Scarlett stretched her limbs and climbed down the side of the RV. A part of her expected Daryl to follow, but the man remained on top of the vehicle staring at the stretch of highway ahead.

Leaning Stella against the side of the RV, Scarlett fished her water bottle out of her pack and began drinking its contents. There wasn't anything to eat, so everyone was opting out with water instead in order to quiet the rumbling of their stomachs. It seemed to be working for the meantime anyways.

Scarlett gave a quick nod to Rick as he passed by, to which he returned with a grim expression on his face. She could only assume that he was still thinking about what Carol had said to him the night before. He was probably under the impression that finding Sophia was his responsibility and his alone. Someone would need to have a conversation with him about that later.

A couple greetings were shared between everyone in the attempts to get rid of any grogginess that remained wrapped around their heads from restless sleep. Everyone gathered around one of the hoods of one of their vehicles and watched as Rick placed a large roll of leather down with a soft thud. The man quickly unrolled it to reveal it holding multiple sharp knives and tools that could easy take out some walkers if the aim was right.

"Everybody takes a weapon." Rick said simply as the others peered in closer to see the sharp instruments.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need," Andrea argued, giving both Rick and Shane a look of annoyance. "What about the guns?"

"We've been over that," Shane answered without even glancing at the woman. "Daryl, Scarlett, Rick and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles."

"It's not the trees I'm worried about," the blonde sighed before turning her attention to Scarlett. "And last time I checked paramedics weren't trained in firearms."

"Shane and I taught her how to handle smaller guns a few years ago," Rick came to her defense. "She knows how to use one safely."

"Are cops allowed to teach anyone outside the force on guns?" Andrea continued to push.

"Look, if it irritates you so much I won't even touch the gun, okay?" Scarlett sighed, getting tired of arguing. "I'll leave it strapped to my belt."

"You're missing the point!"

"No, I think you are," Shane stepped away from the shade of the RV to stand beside Rick. "Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it. It doesn't matter what circumstances occurred for us to teach Holloway how to handle a gun. All that matters is that she's had training and knows how to carry. End of conversation."

There was a moment of shocked silence that passed through the group. Scarlett had been receiving mixed signals from Shane ever since the two groups had reunited at their old camp. One moment they would be at each other's throats and the next he would be standing up for her or making light conversation. It worried her slightly considering the fact that one never knew when Shane was about to go off. He was a loose canon at this point, but she still nonetheless nodded her head in his direction in a form of thanks. The man nodded back.

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side," Daryl explained in the attempts of steering their attention to the task at hand. "Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." Rick said, tossing his bottle of water idly in his hand.  
"Everybody assemble your packs." Shane stated as a final thought, everyone turning to grab one of the sharp weapons lying out on the hood.

"Who found these tools anyways?" Scarlett questioned, looking around at the others as they began gathering their things.

"Carl found them." Lori answered, looking down at her son.

"Good find, big guy." Scarlett held out her hand to him, to which he happily gave her a high-five.

Giving the mother and son a hint of a smile, Scarlett slowly turned and grabbed Stella within her fist. Her bag was the only thing that belonged to her besides her beloved bat, but that was already fastened to her back. She was as ready to trek through the woods for a couple hours as she could possibly be.

As she began approaching Glenn near the edge of the road, Scarlett could hear bickering coming from near the RV. It appeared that Andrea was going at Dale again for her gun and at this point, Scarlett wanted to stay as far away from the woman as possible while she was on her rampage.

"Do you think she's ever going to calm down?" Glenn muttered the question to her, to which the redhead let out a slow sigh.

Within a few minutes, everyone had gathered near the side of the road with all their things, the exception being Dale and T-Dog. Daryl quickly hoped over the side rail and led the rest of the group down into the tree line below them. Rick remained second to the front of the line as the group carefully made their way through the foliage, followed by Andrea and Carol. Scarlett walked in the middle of the line with Glenn behind her, and behind him remained Carl, Lori and Shane.

Eyes carefully watching the trees for any sign of walkers, Scarlett's mind couldn't help but wander back to the times that Rick and Shane had taken her out to the range to teach her how to shoot. The first time had occurred only a few months after getting to know them and Scarlett recalled being a bit confused with the proposition made by the two officers. It had been one of the first times she'd let the Grimes family and Shane into her home that the former had mentioned the pistol she kept in one of the kitchen drawers after searching for a bottle opener. Scarlett had informed them that she kept it for protection even though she didn't know how to use it, to which they offered up the opportunity to teach her. This began multiple sessions of meeting up with the men at the range to learn how to shoot.

However, a part of her wondered if their intentions to teach her derived from something else. She couldn't help but consider that maybe they had noticed the dark circles under her eyes, or the fact that she always sat at the kitchen counter right beside the drawer that held the gun, or that sometimes she would flinch when she heard the front door open, like she was expecting a monster to walk through the living room and not Victoria who was coming home from school. Maybe they had noticed that something had happened in that house that constantly kept the paramedic on edge, but she couldn't be sure.

Catching sight of something yellow in her field of vision, Scarlett was pulled from her thoughts to see a tent set up amongst the trees just a few meters away from them. It appeared that the rest of the group had seen it too, as Daryl ushered for everyone to crouch down.

"She could be in there." Shane muttered to the others.

"Could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl whispered back, slowly and carefully beginning to walk towards the small campsite.

Rick held up a hand to the rest of the group, informing them to stay put while he and Shane followed Daryl towards the tent. Scarlett stayed with the others to keep a watchful eye out for walkers, especially since she was the only one with a gun who had stayed put.

Scarlett watched as Daryl slowly approached the tent, carefully peeking through the flap to see if anything was there. A part of her worried for his safety, but the man was wielding a giant hunting knife as he walked around. Chances were slim that anything or anyone could sneak up on him, especially with how quiet he was being.

Nonetheless, she was still worried.

When Daryl gave a shrug, Rick quickly looked back at the group.

"Carol." The former sheriff whispered, beckoning her over.

Much to her surprise, Carol gave Scarlett a quick look of concern. The redhead wasn't sure why the woman would look to her, but Scarlett gave her a reassuring nod and the woman made her way towards the three other men.

The rest of the group slowly approached as well.

"Call out softly," Rick whispered to the woman. "If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."

Carol swallowed harshly, giving Rick one last look before glancing back over at the tent.

"Sophia, sweetie, are you in there?"

There was no response.

"Sophia, it's mommy."

Yet again, nothing came from inside the tent.

"Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's mommy."

Silence.

Rick placed a hand on Carol's shoulder, ordering her to stay where she was as the man slowly came to stand close to Daryl at the front of the tent. Scarlett felt her throat close up slightly, worried at what they would find behind the yellow fabric of the shelter. Shane also joined the two men and very cautiously, Daryl began unzipping the rest of the flap of the tent.

From where she was standing, Scarlett couldn't see much inside the tent when Daryl finally pulled open the flap. There appeared to be a unfolded chair situated in the middle and someone sitting in it. By the cough of disgust that left Daryl's mouth, she knew it wasn't anyone living.

It was only when Shane and Rick started coughing as well that the younger Dixon brother ventured into the tent and remained there for a couple of seconds. A couple seconds too long.

"Daryl?" Carol called out to him.

The man didn't answer her.

"Daryl, what did you find?" Scarlett attempted to speak with him as well.

Thankfully, the man finally emerged from the tent with a bit of a disgusted look on his face.

"It ain't her." Daryl spoke.

"What's in there?" Andrea asked, trying to get a look at the tent.

"Some guy," he replied. "Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?"

As the words left Daryl's mouth, the man stared directly at Andrea almost as if the statement was mostly for her. The bitter expression that fell on the blonde's face seemed to prove Scarlett's point.

And then she heard something amongst the rustling of leaves and other sounds of the forest that sent a shock right through her body. Bells had begun ringing off in the distance; similar to those that would be rang at a church. For a solid moment, Scarlett was worried that this was another trick of her mind but the look of recognition on everyone else's faces said otherwise.

In silent agreement, the group took off in the direction of the sound. Leaves and twigs crunched and snapped under their feet as they rushed towards the eerie chiming of bells, but they had to stop a moment to figure out where the sound was coming from.

"Which direction?" Shane breathed out.

"I think that way," Rick replied, pointing straight ahead. "I'm pretty sure."

Scarlett had closed her eyes at this point, trying to focus all her attention on the sound. As much as the sound bothered her, if there was a chance of finding Sophia, she would put aside her personal distain in order to locate the girl.

"Damn, it's hard to tell out here." Scarlett heard Shane huff in frustration.

"If we hear them, maybe Sophia did too." Carol quickly followed with her hope-filled words.

"Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others." Glenn chimed in as well.

"Or signaling that they found her." Andrea threw in.

Scarlett opened her eyes and continued jogging along with the rest of the group. She honestly couldn't tell which way it was coming from; she was just as confused as the others.

"She could be ringing them herself." Rick stated, leading the rest of them forward.

"Well, we better get there before the walkers do," Scarlett concluded. "Chances are, they're hearing the same thing."

Without further ado, the group quieted down and continued moving forward as they carefully listened to the chiming bells that seemed to be ringing all around them. It was most definitely coming from a church, Scarlett could tell that much. She'd heard that sound more times than she could count when she'd been a child. Her family went to church every Sunday, even after her mother had passed away. That was when the somewhat happy memories turned into not so pleasant ones.

Even when they had exited the tree line to see the church, Scarlett's stomach dropped. A part of her had hoped she'd been wrong with her assumptions of the bell's location, but her keen ears knew the sound too well. It stood in a type of meadow, a graveyard resting across the land before them. Beyond it remained the church, no larger than a small house. There was nobody in sight, leaving the group to come to the conclusion that whoever was ringing the bell must be inside its walls.

Scarlett swallowed harshly.

"That can't be it," Shane shook his head in confusion. "Got no steeple, no bells. Rick!"

The former sheriff's deputy still continued forward regardless of his friend's words. Scarlett hesitantly followed behind the man, and approaching footsteps from behind told her that the rest of the group was close behind them. Eventually breaking out into a run, Scarlett felt her dread spreading across her chest as they got closer to the church. Being mindful of the gravestones and not to trip over any of them proved a bit difficult at the speed they were moving, but the redhead managed to avoid them all.

Rick was the first one to reach the large red door at the side of the church. Shane, Daryl and Scarlett remained ready right behind him, telling the others to stay back. Placing a finger to his lips, Rick silently placed his hand on the red wood of the doors and pushed them open.

The loud squeak of the hinges made Scarlett's eye twitch but the sight before her made her stop mid-inhale. The first thing she saw was the giant cross at the front of the alter, a marble statue of Jesus crucified to it. Stained glass windows and poles with the American flag were placed accordingly around the room. The sight was too familiar and uncomfortable for her, but her eyes soon fell on the couple of bodies that sat at the pews.

Sunken eyes fell on the group, staring at them as if they'd just interrupted their personal conversations with God. The four walkers slowly stood up and Scarlett felt her grip on her bat tighten.

She never thought she'd see herself killing something in a church, but there was a first time for everything she supposed.

Scarlett felt Rick's eyes on her and she turned to give him a quick look, to which he nodded slowly. With a huff, Scarlett began walking forward with her eyes locked on one of the walkers. Walking through the pews towards it in order to gain an advantage, Scarlett bumped the walker in the chest with the end of her bat before bringing it down on its head. The blow was enough to knock the walker down but not enough to kill it, which led her to continue, and continue she did.

After her fifth swing, Scarlett staggered backwards and looked at the others. The three other walkers had been taken care of, leaving the group to stare at their surroundings. Scarlett's eyes had ended up staring at the crucifixion piece at the front of the room, slowly approaching it. She felt sick, not just because of the environment, but because once again, Sophia was nowhere in sight.

The loud bang behind her didn't even startle her.

"Sophia!" Rick yelled, kicking open one of the other doors furiously.

They were all desperate to find the little girl, to return her to her mother, but at the rate they were going, things weren't looking so great.

Scarlett continued to stare at Jesus Christ on the cross, eyes narrowed but somewhat anxious. It was times like these where her so called 'faith' burned into nothing, because if there really was a God, how could he allow a child to wander around lost with monsters around every corner? If he truly had a hand in everything, he would have done something to stop this. He would have stopped the many horrible things in her and everyone else's lives if he were as merciful as they preached him to be.

"Hey J.C., you taking requests?" Daryl said from behind her, his voice bitter and mirroring her feelings exactly.

Scarlett suddenly felt like she was burning, like her presence was not welcome in a place as holy as a church. She felt as though eyes were watching her, judging her even. So she opted to turn around and leave the church, feeling a few pairs of concerned eyes to follow her.

"…There's no steeple." Scarlett caught the end of Shane and Rick's conversation as she reached the doors. When she opened them, the ringing they had heard earlier had begun blasting through the whole church.

Running out of the church with the others right behind her, Scarlett made a sharp turn and ran around the corner. Coming to a stop with everyone else, her tired eyes fell on that of a microphone situated near the top of the roof. Connecting down via wires into a control box, she watched as Glenn ran forward and ripped the wires out.

"A timer. It's on a timer." Daryl said, fatigue and annoyance riddled amongst his words.

Scarlett shook her head and kicked at the dirt near her feet. Nobody looked happy with the situation at hand.

"I'm going to go back in for a bit." Carol mumbled, almost in a daze as she made her way towards the entrance of the church once again.

The others slowly began trickling towards the entrance as well, but Scarlett stayed planted to the ground where she stood. Rick caught her eye and cocked an eyebrow, but she simply shook her head and retreated to the shade of one of the few trees on the property.

Throwing her things down at the trunk, Scarlett placed her self amongst the tree's roots and let out a shaky breath. She'd promised herself years ago that she would never step foot inside another church unless it was for a funeral of someone she truly cared about. She supposed searching for Sophia was an exception, considering that a little girl's life was on the line, but she was still disappointed. She'd hoped her feelings of anxiety when it came to the house of God would disappear after a while, but man were they stronger than ever.

"Are you really leaving?"

Hushed voices arguing near the front of the church had Scarlett peeking around the side of the tree to get a better view of what was happening.

"Don't you think it's best for all of us?"

Near the steps of the church stood Lori and Shane, who appeared to be in a heated discussion.

 _Leaving? Shane was leaving?_

"I think it is. What made you decide?" Lori asked, being up front with the man.

"Gotta back away," Shane muttered out, not looking in Lori's direction. "Just trying to be the good guy here, Lori. Even if you don't see it, none of this was intended. I hope you know that."

Scarlett couldn't find it in herself to feel bad for eavesdropping on the two's conversation, but she most definitely had her answer now regarding the supposed relationship between them.

"You're just gonna disappear? You're not even gonna tell Rick?" Lori questioned furiously, walking towards the man and demanding an answer.

"He'd only try to stop me. No, that's on you," Shane hissed back. "You tell him what you want. Or you tell him nothing at all. You're his wife."

"And Carl? We dragged him into this."

"I love Carl."

"He thinks you hate him."

"I'm trying to put some distance. I'm trying to make this easier," Shane explained. "This ain't easy on any of us, least of all me. I'm the one who losses you."

At that point, Scarlett had everything she needed to know and decided to turn away. She wasn't sure how she felt about Shane leaving. A part of her would miss the old Shane, the one that would try to crack jokes with her and bicker with her. Not the Shane that had come to fruition, the guy he was now.

Suddenly, her eyes were focusing on the sign near where she was sitting. She hadn't paid much mind to it until that moment, and once again dread washed through her. _Southern Baptist Church of Holy Light_ it read, _established in 1836_. Underneath the main sign read; _Revelation 16:17_ , to which Scarlett sighed.

"The Seventh Bowl of Wrath." She muttered to herself, scratching at her one good hand.

"Seventh Bowl of what?"

The sudden voice startled her, eyes going wide as she turned to see the rest of the group approaching her. It had been Daryl to ask the question, sitting down beside her as the others stood around under the shade and away from the sun's glare.

"Revelation 16:17," Scarlett pointed at the sign, to which everyone turned to look. "The Seventh Bowl of Wrath."

"I don't understand." Glenn shook his head and looked down at her.

"It's the part of the bible that talks about Armageddon," she explained. "' _Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came from the throne in the temple, saying, "It is done!"_ '"

"You can recall that from memory?" Andrea questioned, eyebrows raised.

"Wasn't my choice. My father was a priest."

Before anymore questions could be asked, everyone heard the gruff clearing of a throat and the group turned to look at Shane approaching them.

"Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge," Shane began explaining. "Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough."

"You're splitting us up. You sure?" Daryl asked, eyeing the other two men carefully.

"We'll catch up to you."

"You better." Scarlett said in a firm tone, eyeing the men carefully.

"I want to stay too," Carl suddenly spoke up, taking everyone by surprise. The boy hadn't said much since they'd left the camp. "I'm her friend."

Both men looked at each other, a small smile forming on Shane's lips as he attempted to hide it away. Rick looked at his son before looking at Lori.

"Just be careful, okay?" She said to the young boy.

"I will."

"When did you start growing up?"

A small smile played at the corner of Scarlett's lips as she stood up and gathered her things. Rick approached his wife and gave her a quick hug before digging into his belt and offering her his gun.

"Here, take this. Remember how to use it?"

"I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed." She replied, declining his offer.

"Here, got a spare," Daryl spoke up, walking forward with a small pistol in hand. Scarlett wondered where he'd gotten it from. "Take it."

A bit surprised, Lori still took the gun from Daryl. The sight made Scarlett smile slightly.

Without another word, the two groups went their separate ways. Scarlett wasn't exactly fond of the idea of splitting up, but she could see the benefits of Rick, Shane, and Carl staying behind just in case Sophia was around. There was a good chance that Sophia had heard the church bells ringing at some point and Scarlett believed her to be smart enough to find her way towards the sound. However, she didn't like it. Her intuition was telling her that something bad was going to happen. Maybe that was her mind being worked up from being near a church or what, but she still felt uneasy as all hell.

Nobody spoke for a little while as they followed Daryl along the creek bed. It was easy to see that everyone's minds were weighing heavy with the situation before them. Nothing appeared to be going right, and their luck only seemed to be getting worse and worse.

"So this is it?" Carol questioned, breaking the silence and taking a seat on a nearby log. The rest of the group stopped walking. "This the whole plan?"

"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups." Daryl sighed, leaning up against one of the trees as everyone took a moment to rest.

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks," Andrea grumbled, turning her bitterness towards Lori. "I see you have a gun."

"Oh for fuck's sake-" Scarlett began, getting tired of the same old argument coming from the blonde but was interrupted by Lori herself.

"Why, you want it? Here, take it," Lori asked in a firm tone before holding it out to the blonde. "I'm sick of the looks you're giving me."

Andrea gave her yet another look of rage and disbelief before taking the gun out of the brunette's hand.

"All of you," Lori muttered, digging her water bottle out of her bag before turning her attention to Carol. "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through and I would do anything to stop it. But you have got to stop blaming Rick. It is in your face every time you look at him."

Scarlett remained quiet with everyone else, getting ready for Lori's slow burning wrath.

"When Sophia ran, he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second," the older woman continued. "I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did or made the hard decisions that he had to make. Or that anybody could have done it any differently."

Nobody said a single word as they listened to Lori's harsh but necessary words.

"Y'all look to him and then you blame him when he's not perfect, the exception being Scarlett because she knows him like I do," Lori stated, giving the redhead a quick glance. "If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you."

The woman angrily drank from her water, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Much to Scarlett's surprise, along with everyone else's, Andrea hesitantly stepped forward and held out the gun to Lori. The brunette took the gun back slowly.

"We should keep moving." Scarlett muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear. Their little group appeared stunned into silence by Lori's words, but everyone slowly got up and began walking again.

Scarlett ended up being at the front of the group with Daryl, unconsciously following his lead as they walked by the creek. She truly wondered if more than just Carol had felt that Rick was responsible for Sophia disappearing. It seemed almost ridiculous to her to blame him for something so completely out of his control. Maybe she was biased, considering that she did know him a lot better than the others in the group, but even then it was still hard to believe.

"She always get like that?" Daryl suddenly muttered to her, walking next to her as if he had appeared out of thin air. Damn him and his quiet feet.

"Lori?" Scarlett questioned and he nodded. "Sometimes, when something's really bothering her. If you thought that was bad…" She let out a low whistle.

"Murderous rage?" He asked, quoting her words from that morning. The redhead raised an eyebrow at him as she ducked out of the way of some branches.

"Something like that." She laughed dryly.

The sound of a distant gunshot had the group coming to a halt, eyes wide and searching for any threat. Scarlett's thoughts went immediately to the safety of Rick, Carl, and Shane, worried that they had run into trouble. It appeared that everyone was thinking the same thing.

"You don't think…?" Glenn began, looking over at Scarlett and Daryl.

"I'm sure they're fine," Scarlett stated, eyes still looking through the trees. "One shot probably means one walker. If it were multiple shots, then I'd be worried."

While her words were more meant to calm the others down, she couldn't help but draw a bit of calmness from her own thinking. Her logic made sense, and she would believe it until proved otherwise for the sake of her mental wellbeing. Lori, however, looked unconvinced but still continued on with them.

What little conversations had began before the gunshot were demolished by their busy minds. The silence came back and followed them like a fog in the air. Scarlett watched as Lori kept turning to look behind her, in the direction of the sound and where her husband was.

It appeared Scarlett wasn't the only one to notice.

"You still worrying about it?" Andrea asked, causing everyone to turn around and see Lori stopped a few feet behind them.

"It was a gunshot." Lori replied in a monotone voice.

"We all heard it." Daryl stated, as if trying to calm her down in an indirect way.

"Why one? Why just one gunshot?" She pressed on, looking back at the group.

"Maybe they took down a walker." Daryl attempted once again.

"Please don't patronize me. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot just to put down one walker. Or Shane, they'd do it quietly."

"Maybe they got into a tricky situation and that was the only solution," Scarlett tried her best to calm the older woman. She slowly approached her and placed a cautious hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure they're okay. There's no point in making up stories and driving ourselves crazy when we don't know what happened."

"Exactly, Scarlett. We don't know what happened," Lori explained, giving the redhead a stressed and anxious look. "That's what's bothering me."

"Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Carol asked, posing a good question.

"There's nothing we can do about it anyway," Daryl explained. "Can't run around these woods chasing echoes."

"So what do we do?" Lori asked, some of her frustrations from earlier flaring up in her eyes. Scarlett could see it clear as day.

"Same as we've been," Daryl concluded calmly, which surprised Scarlett. He wasn't giving Lori any attitude. "Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway."

"I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the R.V." Andrea stated calmly.

"It'll be okay, come on." Scarlett patted the woman's shoulder in an attempt to get her moving again. The action worked and their little group was off once again. Well, that's what she thought, until Andrea began speaking to Carol.

"I'm sorry for what you're going through," the blonde spoke. The group had ceased their walking once again. "I know how you feel."

"I suppose you do. Thank you," Carol said a bit hesitantly, but nonetheless agreed. Scarlett watched as the woman's eyes welled with tears. "The thought of her out here by herself…It's not knowing that's killing me. I just keep hoping and praying she doesn't wind up like Amy."

Scarlett winced at Carol's choice of words, as did everyone.

"Oh God," the woman seemed to notice her mistake and grabbed ahold of Andrea's hands. "That's the worst thing I've ever said."

"We're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth." Andrea continued, surprising the others with the fact that she didn't blow up.

"I'll tell you what it's worth – not a damn thing," Daryl spoke up, obviously fed up. "It's a waste of time with all this hoping and praying. Cause we're gonna locate that little girl, and she's gonna be just fine."

Scarlett went quiet as did everyone else, but she was quiet for a whole different reason. While others were probably a little offended by his choice of words, the redhead couldn't help but agree. Hoping and praying had never proved useful to her once in her entire life. It entailed false hopes and dreams that were crushed with reality. That's why Scarlett liked dealing with facts, things backed by logic. She didn't have a good relationship with religion to begin with, but she felt she couldn't go along with it even if she tried.

"Am I the only one Zen around here?" Daryl asked, eyeing the rest of the group. "Good lord."

"I agree with him," Scarlett spoke up, taking the others by surprise. "Whether you believe in God or not is your own business, so if you find strength from it, by all means pray and hope away. But we'll find Sophia no matter what. We've got a whole group of adults out looking for her and like Daryl said, she's going to be just fine."

"I thought you said your father was a priest?" Glenn asked, being the first one to approach the somewhat sensitive topic.

"Yeah, and he was an asshole," she replied, hiking her pack higher up on her shoulder as she turned to keep walking. "Kinda ruined the whole 'religion' thing for me. But like I said, hope and pray as much as you want, but it'll be wasted. We're going to find Sophia with or without God's help."

* * *

Nobody spoke with Scarlett after her little revelation about her relationship with God, or lack there of. She didn't mind; she felt like she'd revealed a bit too much about herself for her own liking, but there was no point worrying about it now. What had been said was said, out in the open and lying out on her hypothetical table for everyone to see. She supposed that if the world was ending, there wasn't much of a need to hide anything anymore.

But some secrets were too sensitive to come to light.

She'd seen the same figure in the corner of her eyes twice since they'd started they're trek back to the highway. The first time had been when they were just leaving the church; she swore she saw someone looking at her from the window of the chapel. However, it had disappeared in the blink of an eye. The second time had been only moments ago, hiding behind a tree and watching them. Again, as soon as she'd looked in its direction the figure had disappeared.

Maybe she was losing her mind.

"We'll lose the light before too long," Daryl spoke up, causing the group to come to a simultaneous halt. "I think we should call it."

"Let's head back." Lori nodded once at the proposition.

"We'll pick it up again tomorrow?" Carol questioned, looking between the group members.

"Yeah, we'll find her tomorrow." Scarlett agreed, feeling her own fatigue beginning to wrap around her limbs.

* * *

Scarlett was starting to feel even more tired than before. She hoped by the time night fell and they got back to the RV that she would just pass out and manage to get some sleep.

"You didn't sleep again last night." Glenn stated to her as the continued through a section of tall grass.

"You're starting to know me too well." She scoffed, causing him to sigh.

"Scarlett, I swear to God you need to get some rest or you're gonna collapse."

"Maybe the Big Guy up in heaven will do me a solid and put me to sleep forever."

"That's not funny."

"Not everything's a joke, Glenn."

Her friend sighed and continued to walk beside her for a little while. Just as Scarlett was sinking back into her thoughts again, Glenn spoke up.

"You didn't come into the church earlier but you said your dad was a priest," he began and she closed her eyes, knowing what he was going to ask. "What do you have against religion?"

"I have nothing against religion," she replied, stepping around a large tree before falling into step with Glenn again. "I just don't like it. If other people get strength from religion, that's fine by me. Just don't force it down my throat."

"Your father must have loved that."

While she knew he meant it in a joking way, Scarlett felt her jaw clench. He knew too little about the situation to recognize why his words triggered her, but he definitely saw her face change into something much darker.

"I said something I shouldn't have, didn't I?" He asked, slowly panicking. "Shit, I'm sorry-"

"Hey, it's fine," she cut him off before he could go into anymore of a frenzy. She forced the corner of her mouth to turn up in a reassuring manner. "You meant no harm by it."

Glen gave her a concerned look for a long moment, as if trying to read her face to make sure she was telling the truth. When she saw the tension leave his shoulders, Scarlett knew he believed her. And it was true, she wasn't angry with him. How could he possibly know what had caused her to dislike the aspect of religion? She would be a bad friend if she expected him to understand everything without an explanation, and she would explain everything one day. If they lived long enough.

"How much farther?" Lori called out from behind them, causing the duo to look over their shoulders at the others.

"Not much. Maybe a hundred yard as the crow flies." Daryl muttered back, taking the lead once again.

"Too bad we're not crows." Andrea grumbled.

Scarlett couldn't agree more. Her feet were starting to ache something horrible and she could only assume the others were feeling the same way. At this point, she just stared at Daryl's back and followed the man mindlessly. She wasn't going to lie to herself; she was starting to feel a little weak from her lack of sleep.

Her eyes focused a little bit as she stared at the younger Dixon's back. The man had nice broad shoulders, watching as the muscles flexed as he adjusted his grip on the crossbow. His arms were no joke either, very toned and defined. She wouldn't say that she was marveling at his physic, but she was definitely impressed. Scarlett felt like this information should have been something she already knew, considering the time she had spent with him. She supposed she'd never really _looked_ at him before and the thought made her frown.

A scream cut through the air, causing everyone to pause. As she looked at the others, Scarlett concluded they were missing one of their group and quickly began running towards the screaming. The yells had to have belonged to Andrea, and one of the few things to cause such a horrific cry was most likely a walker.

As they got closer, Scarlett spotted Andrea lying on the group along with an unfamiliar woman on a horse wielding a wooden baseball back. If it wasn't the fact that she was carrying the same weapon as the redhead that made her like the unfamiliar woman, it was the fact that she had saved one of their own.

"Lori? Lori Grimes?" The mysterious woman questioned Andrea frantically, attempting to calm her horse. The rest of them slowly approached the woman.

"I'm Lori." The brunette replied, giving the new woman an odd look.

"Rick sent me. You've got to come now." The unfamiliar woman stated firmly.

"What?"

"There's been an accident. Carl's been shot."

Everyone's eyes widened in shock and Scarlett felt like she was going to vomit. So that had been the gunshot they'd heard, but she had been stupid enough to believe that nothing bad had happened. Now Carl, the other of the two children in their group, was in danger and suffering greatly.

"He's still alive. But you've got to come now." The woman continued, ushering Lori to go with her.

"Is he being treated?" Scarlett asked, coming out of her daze while being the first of the group to speak up.

"Yes, my daddy's looking after him."

"Scarlett should go, too. She's a paramedic." Andrea stated, taking the new woman by surprise.

"You are?" The woman nodded at Scarlett.

"Yeah but…" Scarlett blinked a couple times, looking between the others. "You've only got the one horse. Lori should go with you, she's his mother."

"We could use all the medical help we can get…" the shorthaired woman muttered to herself before looking back at the group. "Lori, come with me for now."

Lori quickly began taking off her backpack and approached the horse, the woman helping her up onto the saddle.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! We don't know this girl!" Daryl attempted to argue with Lori. "You can't get on that horse!"

"Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?" The woman questioned with eyes on Scarlett as Lori positioned herself behind her.

"Yeah." The redhead responded.

"Backtrack to Fairburn road. Two miles down is our farm," the woman continued to explain quickly. "You'll see the mailbox. The name is Greene. I need you, the one with the red hair, to get to the farm as soon as possible. You think you can get there in a day?"

"I'll walk it if I have to." Scarlett nodded.

"Good."

Without another word, Lori and the shorthaired woman took off on the horse, leaving a trail of dirt behind them. Everyone stood dumbfounded at the turn in their situation before a low moaning came from the walker the girl on the horse had knocked over earlier. The walker stood up and Daryl let out a huff.

"Shut up." He swore as he shot an arrow into the walker's skull.

* * *

To say Scarlett felt frantic was the biggest understatement ever made. Knowing that Carl had been shot and that she needed to take off to the woman's farm as soon as possible had her scratching at her hands violently. If the others had noticed her behaviour, they didn't say anything about it. Actually, nobody said a word about anything as they walked back to the highway. It was only when they got there that they informed Dale of what was going on.

"Shot? What do you mean shot?" He yelled to them in confusion as they approached the familiar set up on the highway by the RV.

"I don't know, Dale. We weren't there," Glenn breathed out heavily. They did practically run back to the highway after Lori took off on horseback with the other woman. "All I know if that this chick rode in out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori."

"You let her?" Dale responded, looking to Daryl this time.

"Climb down out of my asshole, man. Rick sent her," he responded. "He knew Lori's name and Carl's."

"I heard screams, was that you?" Dale continued to ask questions, this one directed at Andrea. The blonde walked right by him without so much as a glance in his direction.

"She got attacked by a walker. It was a close call." Glenn answered.

Scarlett was pacing back and forth as these conversations continued to happen. Her hands felt like they were burning, so she took what was left in her water bottle and poured it over itching hands. It was only when she did this that Glenn took notice.

"Scarlett, what are you doing?"

"I need to leave," she muttered back. " _We_ need to leave. We gotta do something to get to that farm."

"You want to leave?" Daryl questioned, coming up from somewhere behind her. He didn't sound too pleased with her proposition.

"The girl said they could use all the medical expertise they needed to help Carl," Scarlett answered. "If he dies and I'm sitting here doing nothing, I'll never forgive myself."

"I won't do it. We can't just leave." Carol spoke up, causing Scarlett to shakily wipe at her eyes.

"Carol, the group is split. We're scattered and weak." Dale stated, obviously stressed with the situation.

"What if she comes back and we're not here?" Carol questioned in a more frantic manner. "It could happen."

"If Sophia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful." Andrea stood in the doorway of the RV, startling a few of them. Nobody had heard her emerge from the vehicle.

"Okay, we got a plan for this. I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes," Daryl spoke calmly. "Give us a chance to rig up a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight, stay with the RV."

"If the RV is staying, then I am too." Dale concluded, agreeing with the plan.

"Thank you. Thank you both." Carol managed to say in a hushed voice filled with emotion.

"I'm in." Andrea agreed as well.

Scarlett remained quiet, chewing on her thumb. It made sense in a way, to stay and make a sign for Sophia, but she had to go. She needed to be there to help make sure Carl was all right.

"Okay, you guys stay. That sounds like a good plan, but I've got to go," she finally spoke up, looking at the others. "I'll go alone if I have to."

"I'll go with you." Glenn stated, causing her to blink in surprise.

"You don't have to."

"You two can take Carol's Cherokee," Dale said to them. "Find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on, but most important you've got to get T-Dog there."

"It's his arm, isn't it?" Scarlett muttered, looking at Dale in displeasure.

"That cut has gone from bad to worse," He replied, nodding over towards the back end of the RV, where the man in question was wrapped in a blanket sitting on the pavement. "He has a very serious blood infection."

"Fuck me," Scarlett cursed. "Okay, now we really need to go. He needs antibiotics ASAP."

"What happens if he doesn't get them?" Carol asked.

"He'll die," The paramedic threw her bag down rather aggressively and leaned against one of the abandoned cars. Her expression was nothing but bitter and miserable. "You know what would be nice? If one good thing could happen today. Yeah, that'd be nice."

Her narrowed eyes landed on the sky above her. The sun was setting fast and she wanted to leave as soon as possible. A part of her wondered if she should check T-Dog's arm one last time, but she didn't want to risk making it worse. She trusted Dale's word; it was hard to miss a blood infection from an open wound.

"I've got my brother's stash."

Scarlett blinked her dry eyes and heard something land on the hood of the car she was currently leaning against. Curiosity got the better of her and as she looked down at what had been presented to them, her eyes almost popped out of her head.

Sat on the hood of the car was a bag full of prescription bottles, some more full than others. She could feel Daryl's eyes on her as he held out the bag. A part of her wondered why he hadn't handed the drugs forward when she had asked for medical supplies yesterday, but she didn't really care at the moment. They had them now and that's what mattered.

She snatched the bag off the hood like a thief stealing the finest gold, eyes wide as she went through its contents.

"Crystal, X. Don't really need that," Daryl continued to talk as she went through the bag. "Some kickass painkillers."

"Ativan, Ambien, Oxycontin, Vicodin, Adderall, Xanax, Percocet…" Scarlett muttered to herself as she went through the bag, her hand stalling on a bottle and pulling it out. "Oxycycline."

"Not the generic stuff neither. It's first class," Daryl finished, causing the redhead to look up at him with wide eyes. "Merle got the Clap on occasion."

She could tell he was trying to joke with her, but she was at a loss for words. The chances of finding an antibiotic in times like these were unheard of, and here Daryl comes with his brother's huge stash of drugs. She was almost too thankful to have the younger Dixon around and didn't know how to express her thanks. It was a miracle, and Scarlett didn't know what to say.

"I think you broke her." Glenn spoke up at Scarlett's lack of a reaction, causing a few chuckles the circle the group. Everyone was relieved regarding what Daryl had brought forward.

Scarlett could tell Daryl was getting uncomfortable with her bewildered stare fixed on him, so she turned to stare at the bottle in her hands instead of the man beside her.

"Dale, would you mind giving T-Dog one of these," Scarlett spoke in a much lighter voice than she was expecting. The others seemed a bit confused as well but Dale nonetheless came forward and took the drugs from her. When the older man ventured over to their injured companion, Scarlett finally found her words.

"You just saved his life."

She hadn't been expecting the smile that had split across her face, but the reaction came without her consent. She was so grateful, and for a moment, she forgot that Sophia was missing, or that Carl had been shot and needed her help, or that the dead were walking around. That tiny bottle would be able to bring forward the only good thing that had presented itself to them in days. Maybe she was delirious from not sleeping, but in that moment, that tiny bottle of antibiotics would mean another person got to live, and it was because of Daryl. She hadn't felt that happy in a while.

And it terrified her.

* * *

 _Taa-daa! Chapter 15 done!_

 _I can't believe we're only fifteen damn chapters in. I'll try to pump out another one as soon as I can to make up for my absence these past few months._

 _So! We got a bit of insight regarding Scarlett's relationship with her father AND religion. I apologize if any of you are religious, I mean no harm with this chapter/Scarlett's views. Only a few interactions between Scarlett and Daryl this chapter, but I plan on writing half of the next chapter in Daryl's POV to show you guys his stance on everything that's happened._

 _I apologize if there are any errors in terms of grammar. It is 1 am here currently and I just had to get this chapter out to you guys._

 _I truly hoped you all enjoyed and I'll post again as soon as I can! Feel free to leave a review/comment, I love hearing from you guys :)_

 _Cheers,_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


	16. A Boy and His Bullets

_Hey all!_

 _Wow, an update? Who would've thought?_

 _This chapter has been sitting in my drafts for at least a week. I wasn't sure whether or not to continue/add more to this chapter but I figured that I would just leave it as is. Plus, I didn't want to hang on to it any longer because you guys deserve an update after my inconsistent schedule_ _and random uploads. Hopefully this isn't shit._

 _Thank you so much to Alya Kihaku, Derra, JessEkdahl, Lisa Bowen, Midori Yuki, Sharlenna, StormyAutumnHeart, StuffofLegend, ashleyconnors064, luna-humphies-slingby, selmass2002, BlazeKillTheGhost, Cara-D, HerMajestyTheKing, KrispyDragon, and chibiRomy for following/favouriting the story! As always, you guys are the reason that drives me to post on this website and I truly don't deserve you all ;-;_

 _For reviews:_

 _XxNimith531xX: Thank you hun! Inspiration is one of the most difficult things to find and when you do find it, it happens in the most random place. Like I was in one of my lectures this week and I got this crazy idea for a story of mine and I almost fell out of my damn chair lmao. I'm so happy to hear that you're enjoying the story! Thank you so much for reading xo_

 _Alya Kihaku: ahhhh I'm happy you love the story! It makes me little heart flutter whenever someone such as yourself tell me that they enjoy the story. I still remember the first time I ever uploaded my writing onto this website...I was a damn mess of anxiety and self-loathing. But hearing from you guys makes all the difference, so thank you so much for the review! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story xo_

 _And because it is October (aka Spooky Month and the month Season 8 starts up) I'd like to try and update more often. My goal *gulp* is to post two more chapters this month in celebration of the best holiday ever (I fucking love Halloween). I don't know if I'll be able to meet this goal since I have essays and midterms coming up, but I will do my very best for all of you!_

 _Anyways, this chapter, I decided to start things off from Daryl's POV. We're going to get some development in terms of Daryl and Scarlett, but there's gonna be some drama in the futures chapters to come hehe._

 _Hope you all enjoy~_

* * *

 _Daryl's Perspective_

He couldn't stop thinking about it. More specifically, he couldn't stop thinking about _her_. And it made him uncomfortable.

The whole day had been exhausting. Their search for Sophia had been fruitless once again, which pissed him off more than it probably should have. The church was a huge let down, but more importantly, he had taken notice to Scarlett's odd behaviour. When she had been in the church, she looked like she was going to explode from anxiety and stress. She wouldn't even go back in with the rest of them and had opted to stay outside instead. While she had mentioned something about her father being an asshole and ruining religion for her, her actions suggested that something far more complicated was at play than what she was letting on.

And it worried him. Plus, he was noticing her little quirks. He took notice of the fact that she scratched at her hands when she was stressed or nervous. He noticed the fact that she kept looking over her shoulder as if something were following her. He noticed the fact that she always swung that bat of hers over her shoulder like she was a part of a pro baseball team. He also noticed that she spent a lot of time with Glenn.

She'd even agreed with him about the bullshit hoping and praying the other woman had been doing in the hopes of it helping them find Sophia. There was no "I hate to agree but…" or "That was a bit harsh but…" added to her words, she simply agreed with him and walked off.

Then, when he had pulled out his brother's stash, Scarlett looked about ready to pass out. Daryl was certain that even Merle never looked that happy when pulling out his drugs, even if it was for a different reason and use. Plus, she'd smiled. Actually smiled. Not some smirk, half-assed smile that she usually forced out, but a genuine smile. In all honesty, it looked foreign on her face, but the relief in that smile had made not just him but everyone in the group let out a chuckle or smile of their own.

She'd looked happy, and Daryl couldn't get the image out of his head.

Even when they'd loaded T-Dog into the back of the Cherokee with Glenn, she still had a hint of a real smile on her lips. The trio had said their goodbyes rather quickly to the rest of the group, but nobody wanted to think about it much. They would be reconnecting in the morning anyways, so it wasn't like it was that big of a deal.

But why was he awake in the middle of the night because of her?

Carol's low sobs in the background were definitely not helping and neither was Andrea's fiddling with her gun. Daryl let out a long sigh before sitting up in his makeshift bed, crawling out from the sleeping bag and onto his feet. He approached the table where Andrea was sitting with her gun and grabbed his crossbow.

"I need my clip now." He muttered to her quietly.

Without hesitation, Andrea gave the clip back to him. It kind of surprised him, after he'd seen the fuss she'd made today, but he didn't question it.

"I'm gonna walk the road, look for the girl." Daryl stated softly before leaving the RV.

The night was humid and there was no breeze. He could feel his shirt already sticking to his chest and back in an unpleasant way. Daryl turned on his flashlight to see if it was still working and thankfully, the ground before him lit up and was no longer swallowed by darkness.

The sound of the RV door opening and closing behind him caused him to turn around.

"I'm coming too." Andrea stated, surprising him once again but he nodded. Daryl looked up at Dale, who was sitting atop the RV on watch.

"I'm going for a walk. Shine some light in the forest," he said to the older man. "If she's out there, give her something to look at."

"You think that's a good idea right now?" Dale questioned.

"Dale." Andrea warned, which quieted the white-haired man down.

Not seeing a point in sticking around, Daryl turned and walked down the highway a bit before heading down into the tree line. He could hear Andrea marching along behind him before she silently joined his side as they searched through the dark woods with their flashlights.

"You really think we're going to find Sophia?" She asked after a while of walking in silence. Daryl shinned his light at her before sighing.

"You got that look on your face, same as everybody else," he stated. "What the hell's wrong with you people? We just started looking."

"Well, do you?" She pushed.

"It ain't the mountains of Tibet. It's Georgia," Daryl responded. "She could be holed up in a farmhouse somewhere. People get lost and they survive. It happens all the time."

"She's only 12."

"Hell, I was younger than that and I got lost. Nine days in the woods eating berries, wiping my ass with poison oak."

It wasn't one of his favorite memories, but it certainly wasn't one of his worst. He remembered it quite well actually, maybe a bit too well.

"They found you?" She asked, curious now.

"My old man was off on a bender with some waitress. Merle was doing another stint in Juvie. Didn't even know I was gone. I made my way back though. Went straight into the kitchen and made myself a sandwich. No worse for wear. Except my ass itched something awful."

He heard Andrea attempt to hold in a laugh from beside him, only for her to laugh some more when he looked over at her.

"I'm sorry," She said, trying to contain herself. "Sorry, that is a terrible story."

She continued to laugh anyways, and even Daryl managed to crack a smile, but he felt a little odd. He felt as though someone else should have been there with him, or at least with the two of them. Already knowing where his brain was diverging to, he spoke again.

"Only difference is that Sophia's got people looking for her," he stated. "I call that an advantage."

The two fell back into silence again and his brain was still torn between focusing on finding Sophia and the other on the red-haired paramedic. There wasn't much to be found amongst the trees they were walking, so his brain was trying to keep him busy with something else. It was honestly starting to piss him off.

"So, what's with you and Scarlett?"

Daryl looked over at Andrea too fast for it to be considered anything but startled. She obviously noticed.

"The hell are you talking about?" He asked, looking away and trying to appear more natural.

"Calm yourself. I just noticed that the two of you get along," the blonde smiled slightly at him, which caused Daryl to narrow his eyes. "Even back at camp you and Scarlett interacted a lot more than you did with anyone else."

"Like you said, we just get along."

"Mhm."

Daryl stopped walking and glared at her.

"I feel like you're implying something more than that."

"You never know."

Daryl just rolled his eyes and huffed before pushing past her. He could hear her chuckling softly at his childish reaction but he was too frustrated to care. There were more pressing matters that required his attention, not some girl he'd met barely a week ago. He just wanted Scarlett off his mind as soon as possible.

* * *

 _Scarlett's POV_

As soon as they'd left the others with the RV back on the highway, Scarlett's anxiety came back three fold as she set her sites on finding the farm. She was seated in the passenger's seat of the car with Glenn driving and T-Dog curled up in the back seat with his huge blanket wrapped around him. Her fingers tapped nervously on her bat, making a soft sound that could just barely be heard over the car's engine. She could tell that her habit was making Glenn go nuts in the driver's seat, his hands tightening on the wheel.

"Scarlett, you're gonna make me crash the car if you keep up that tapping." He stated, his eyes never leaving the road in front of them.

"Well that's a bit drastic." She replied, but decided to tuck her hands under her thighs in order to stop her nervous tick.

"If you crash this car I'll beat your ass." T-Dog grumbled from the back, which ended the conversation. Even if the man was partially delirious, both Scarlett and Glenn could tell he was being sincere.

They'd been driving down Fairburn, the road the woman had told them to follow, for a little while now. There wasn't much to see besides the large trees that lined the roads, with the occasional narrow road that lead down onto other unknown properties. Scarlett had just managed to make out a couple of the mailboxes along the road, spotting the familiar name _Greene_ on one of them.

"There." She pointed out to Glenn, to which he quickly turned the car onto the gravel road and pulled up to the gate. Scarlett quickly opened it up for the car before closing it behind them and getting back in.

She couldn't see much in the dark of night, but she could tell the property was huge. It was most definitely a farm of some sort, the only source of light on the property coming from a white house in the middle of the acreage. Glenn pulled the Cherokee up beside the house, under the cover of a tree before putting it into park and taking the keys out of the ignition.

Glenn looked over at her in mild hesitation, but she gave her friend a nod as she opened the passenger door and stood up. He quickly followed her as she helped get T-Dog out of the car as well. The three stood there for a moment, only continuing forward when the injured of the trio began walking towards the porch.

The exterior of the house was beautiful. Its porch wrapped around the front of the house and was lined with windows that sported sheer white curtains. It was also quite large, even without the second floor on top of it. The entire thing had such a homey feel to it and Scarlett smiled sadly. Victoria would have loved it here.

That feeling was shattered the moment she looked down at the brick steps leading up to the porch. Spotting multiple drops of blood sent a surge of alarm through her body, reminding her why she was there.

"So do we ring the bell? I mean, it looks like people live here." Glenn questioned, looking between both T-Dog and Scarlett.

"We're past this kind of stuff, aren't we?" T-Dog answered.

"I'll just knock on the door." Scarlett sighed, knowing that neither of her two companions would do it anytime soon.

As the three of them climbed the steps up onto the porch, a familiar voice spoke up from off to their right. Glenn was the only one that jumped.

"Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?"

Scarlett glanced over to see the shorthaired girl from earlier sitting in one of the chairs on the porch, her knees pulled up to her chest. She appeared comfortable in the position, as if she were right in her element.

"Uh, hi." Glenn muttered out to her, which caused Scarlett to look over at him. Her friend was having a hard time looking at the girl and the redhead immediately clued in. A somewhat amused expression sat on her face for a millisecond before he noticed it, giving her a harsh look that made her want to laugh even more.

Someone was definitely smitten.

"Yeah, we closed it." Scarlett answered for him, turning her attention back onto the woman in the attempts of regaining a calm demeanor.

"Did the latch and everything," Glenn threw in, continuing to stutter slightly. "Nice to see you again."

Scarlett was biting the inside of her cheek to keep from cracking a smile, because it was now obvious to the girl that Glenn was nervous. The brunette sat forward and peered at the boy.

"We, uh, met before briefly-" he continued, but T-Dog cut him off before he could say anything else to embarrass himself.

"Look, we came to help. Scarlett was practically ready to run here if it meant she could give an extra hand." The injured man said, a soft grunt of pain leaving his lips. The brunette caught sight of the bandage on his arm and her eyebrows immediately furrowed.

"It's not a bite, but he did cut himself pretty bad," the paramedic spoke up; trying to clear any doubt before it could settle in the other woman's mind. "I was hoping you'd have better supplies than what I've got with me in order to clean him up."

"We should have a few things, but I'll let the others know you're here first." The girl stated as she rose from her seat and walked over to the front door.

"We have some painkillers and antibiotics," Glenn brought up, managing to speak more calmly than before in front of the girl. "We already gave him some. If Carl needs any."

"How's he doing?" Scarlett couldn't hold back her question, eyeing the woman carefully as she waited for a response.

"Let's just say I'm glad you're here," she replied honestly, watching as everyone's faces fell. "Come on inside. I'll make you something to eat."

The girl held open the door for the trio and they all took in the inside of the house. It felt like a comfy home, just as Scarlett had suspected, but there was something in the air. It was undoubtedly anxiety filled and dead silent, which made Scarlett even more nervous. The brunette lead them down a nearby hallway, to which a room at the end remained open and lit up. She ushered Scarlett and the others forward and they all stepped inside.

The first thing she saw was Carl in the bed, eyes shut and face paler than snow. His hair was slicked back with sweat and his chest was just barely rising with air. A man with white hair sat perched on the edge of the bed, a stethoscope hung around his neck. Scarlett's eyes shifted to spot both Lori and Rick sat by the bedside, holding hands as their tired gazes remained fixed on their son. Another woman who Scarlett had never seen before sat in a chair in the corner, eyes downcast with worry.

With just one look, Scarlett could tell Carl didn't have much time left.

"Hey" She managed to mutter out, gaining both Rick and Lori's attention.

"Hey." Rick replied faintly, looking almost as pale as his son. Lori looked at Scarlett with tears in her eyes, which automatically made the redhead approach the couple.

She didn't know what to say but took Lori's outstretched hand and squeezed it in her own, attempting to give the woman some sort of comfort.

"Um, we're here, okay?" Glenn spoke quietly, giving the couple some much needed support that Scarlett was sure they'd appreciate.

"Thank you." Lori replied in a hushed voice, giving the trio a ghost of a smile.

"Whatever you need." T-Dog agreed, the sight in front of him rendering him to appear much more coherent than before.

Rick silently nodded back before the younger woman lead Glenn and T-Dog out of the room. Scarlett stayed behind, still squeezing Lori's hand for support before a question overtook her.

"Where's Shane?" She asked, directing the question towards the couple.

"He went out to look for medical supplies with Otis." The older gentleman with the stethoscope answered for them.

"Otis?" Scarlett furrowed her brows.

"The man who shot Carl," Rick clarified for her, finally looking up to meet her green eyes before looking over at the white-haired man. "Hershel, this is the paramedic in our group, Scarlett"

"I wish the circumstances of this meeting were different, but I'm here to help if you need me," she gave the older man a firm look. "You're a doctor?"

"A veterinarian."

For a moment, Scarlett was almost convinced that he was joking, but the moment Hershel looked up at her she realized he was serious.

"Have you ever removed a bullet before, Scarlett?" The man asked her seriously.

"No, sir."

"Do you know how?"

Scarlett swallowed. Paramedics and EMTs were prohibited from taking out shrapnel or bullets from injuries, only allowed to clean them up and get them to the hospital. For the most part, she probably could do it. She had the knowledge to do it, but the question left her hesitant.

"I suppose I could," she replied, feeling Rick and Lori's eyes on her. "It's just the one bullet."

"It shattered into six pieces, I managed to get one of them out earlier but one of them has caused internal bleeding," Hershel explained, pulling the sheets back to reveal Carl's injury. She could easily see that the man spoke the truth. "I need to go in there and stitch it up but we need a respirator."

"Is that what Shane has gone to get?" She asked, looking over at Rick and Lori, only to see them both nod.

"If they don't get back soon, we're gonna have a decision to make." Hershel stated, glancing between the couple and the paramedic.

"And that is?" Rick questioned.

"Whether to operate on your boy without the respirator."

"You said that wouldn't work." Lori stated, eyeing the doctor in confusion.

"It know," Hershel sighed. "It's extremely unlikely but we can't wait much longer."

With the revelation, Lori got up from her seat and exited the room. Scarlett watched as she disappeared beyond the doorway, causing the redhead to run a hand down her face. Rick attempted to follow her, but struggled to get up. The paramedic gave the man a hand, to which he squeezed her shoulder slightly before taking off after his wife. She just barely managed to spot the gauze on his arm before he left the room.

"You've been giving Carl blood transfusions?" She asked Hershel.

"Yes, it's a miracle his father has the same blood type," He responded, sitting back down on the bed and placing the blanket back over the boy's body. "I'm going to ask you to stay in this room with me for a little while, just incase we need to operate last minute."

Scarlett could barely get out a nod before sitting in one of the chairs once occupied by Carl's parents. The fatigue was attacking her limbs much harsher than she had experienced before but she needed to be ready. Carl's life depended on it.

* * *

An hour had gone by since either Hershel or Scarlett had spoken. The older man had been too busy checking the young boy's blood pressure while Scarlett listened to Rick and Lori argue outside on the front porch. She couldn't hear what they were talking about, but she could recognize Lori's shrill tone accompanied by Rick's hushed yells anywhere. After a while, the couple had come back into the house but had not re-entered the room. This was fine with Scarlett, as she was trying to rest her eyes as much as she could.

The sound of soft coughing caused Scarlett's eyes to fly open and land on a very much awake Carl. The door of the room was thrown open as both Lori and Rick entered the room upon hearing their son, practically crawling over to the bed he remained in.

"Where are we?" Carl said through shallow breaths as his mother brushed through his sweaty locks of hair.

"Hey, little man," Rick smiled down at him along with his wife, which automatically made Scarlett smile as well. "That's Hershel. We're in his house. You had an accident, but Hershel and Scarlett are going to make you better."

"It hurts, a lot." The young boy stuttered back, his breaths still coming out in short spurts.

"Oh baby, I know. I know."

"You should have seen it."

Carl's words made Scarlett pause, a bit confused with what he was getting at. It appeared that Lori and Rick were perplexed as well.

"What?" His mother asked.

"The deer. It was so pretty, mom. It was so close," he explained, a smile on his face. "I've never been…"

All emotion on Carl's face died with his words, which caused everyone to freeze. His eyes unfocused and his breathing halted, automatically making Scarlett's stomach drop.

"Carl?" Rick asked harshly, his eyes searching his son's face for any sign of coherence.

"What's happening?" Lori questioned, looking between Hershel and Scarlett.

She quickly got her answer, for Carl began to seize and shake violently on the mattress. His parents attempted to hold him down, but Scarlett and Hershel quickly pulled them away.

"Don't, he's having a seizure," Hershel stated as the parents backed away. "If you hold him down, you could hurt him."

"You can't stop it?" Lori demanded.

"He just needs to ride it out." Scarlett explained, attempting to get the couple to step away from the bed to give them some room.

As the turned Carl on his side, Lori's sobs echoed through the room along with the squeaks and shakes of the mattress. It was a horrific sight, seeing the boy shake mindlessly around in the sheets the way he was, but Scarlett unfocussed her vision in order to not make out the boys face. It would only make the situation harder.

After a moment, the boy's body stopped moving and he became motionless once again. Scarlett opened Carl's closed eyelids to check his pupils while Hershel took his blood pressure.

"His brain isn't getting enough blood." She stated as she let his eyelids fall shut once again.

"His pressure is bottoming. He needs another transfusion." Hershel explained to the couple.

"Okay, I'm ready." Rick spoke up, his pale face soaked with sweat.

"That's dangerous." Scarlett warned, looking between Hershel and the former sheriff's deputy.

"Agreed. If I take anymore out of you, your body could shut down. You could go into a coma," Hershel informed him. "Or cardiac arrest."

"You're wasting time." Rick practically yelled.

"I'm O negative," Scarlett stated, looking over at Hershel. "Universal donor."

"I'll need you for the surgery, can't risk you being light headed," he sighed before grabbing his equipment and approaching Rick. "He'll have to do."

Scarlett took the opportunity to walk around the house while they did the transfusion. If she stayed seated in one of the chairs, the chances of her passing out were extremely high. She would be needed at any possible time, and if standing on her feet kept her prepared, then so be it.

Walking through the hallway they'd used to first enter the house, Scarlett wandered into the kitchen to find the rest of the house's occupants there. T-Dog sat at the kitchen table with the blonde woman from earlier, who was currently cleaning his arm and stitching it up once again. The brunette girl was holding his arm down while Glenn watched the situation unfold.

One look at the cut and Scarlett cringed.

"Got here right in time," the blonde explained as she finished the last of the stitches. "This couldn't have gone untreated much longer, but I will say whoever did the stitches with thread was a genius."

"I wouldn't go around calling me a genius until his arm is fully healed." Scarlett spoke up as she leaned against the doorframe, evidently making her presence known.

"How's Carl doing?" Glenn asked as he looked up to meet her tired gaze.

"Not good," She stated, not wanting to get into the details of his seizure. The redhead turned to look at the brunette. "I'm Scarlett, by the way."

"Maggie," The other girl answered as she struggled to hold T-Dog's arm down. "The one stitching up your friend's arm is Patricia."

Scarlett gave a quick nod at the blonde who was helping T-Dog and she gave the redhead a small smile back.

"'Merle Dixon'," Patricia spoke up, eyes going back to the wound in front of her. "Is that your friend with the antibiotics?"

"No, ma'am," Glenn stated, sending a quick glance Scarlett's way. "Merle's no longer with us. Daryl gave us those – his brother."

"Not sure I'd call him a friend," T-Dog hissed which made Scarlett roll her eyes. The man somehow caught the action even though he was struggling with his pain. "Hey. I'm sorry that I don't get along with the redneck like you do, firecracker."

"He's saved your life on more than one occasion, T." She replied, ignoring the look Glenn was giving her.

"He is definitely your friend today," Patricia stated. "Oxycycline might have just saved your life. You know what Merle was taking it for?"

"Um…"

"The Clap." Glenn answered.

Scarlett gave her friend a bewildered look. Even Maggie had turned to give Glenn a questioning glance.

"I can't believe you just said that with a straight face."

"What? That's what Daryl said!"

"Venereal Disease." Scarlett clarified, turning away from the bicker fest that was about to happen with her friend.

"I'd say Merle Dixon's Clap is the best thing to ever happen to you." Patricia stated, looking up to meet Scarlett's eyes.

"I'm really trying hard not to think about that." T-Dog said through his groans of pain as the blonde pulled on his stitches.

The conversation came to a halt, nothing really left to be said amongst them. Maggie informed Scarlett that she had prepared a sandwich for her, directing her to the fridge with the nod of her head. With her plate of food in hand, the redhead thanked the girl and left the kitchen.

Scarlett's tired feet brought her out onto the wrap-around porch at the front of the house, eyes staying off into the darkness that fell over the farm. Compared to the city, the sky was decorated with thousands of stars and a moon so bright that she could see all the way to the tree line from the house. While the view was rather lovely, Scarlett's fatigued mind kept seeing shadows dancing and emerging from beyond the trees, only to disappear when she focused her eyes enough. These tricks of the eye she could pin down on her lack of sleep, but she wasn't so sure that the figure she kept seeing fell under the same category.

Leaning against the railing of the porch, Scarlett finally brought the sandwich to her lips and sunk her teeth into it. After not eating for a couple of days, the taste of the bread, lettuce, cheese and tomato had her feeling like she was eating pure gold. The flavor exploded in her mouth, taking her by surprise. She didn't realize just how hungry she was until she had swallowed the food, causing her mouth to water profusely.

Before she knew it, the sandwich was gone.

"You know, most people sit down when they eat."

Scarlett raised her eyebrow as she looked over her shoulder to look at Glenn, who was seated in one of two chairs on the porch. She turned around and leaned against the railing to face him. "You of all people should know that I'm not 'most people'."

"Fair enough, but at least sit with me."

"I'll fall asleep if I sit." She replied, causing Glenn to scoff.

"And that's a bad thing because…?"

"I need to be awake incase Hershel needs me for surgery." Scarlett explained to her friend, who still gave her a look of disappointment. She let out a huff of air. "I'll sleep after Carl is stable."

While her friend didn't appear exactly satisfied with her answer, he stopped pestering her about her fatigue and lack of sleep. She was happy with this, until he decided to question her about something else.

"I've been thinking about something T-Dog said when Patricia was stitching up his arm…" Glenn pondered, causing Scarlett to raise an eyebrow at him.

"And?" She pushed, looking at her friend intently.

"How do you get along with Daryl so well?"

There it was. She'd been waiting for her friend to ask questions about the younger Dixon brother. It wasn't like Glenn was angry or anything, but rather curious and a genuinely confused as to how she got along so well with one of the more rough-looking and violent men in their group. Well, that was more of the other's view of the man in question, but she was positive that she didn't think the same anymore.

"Glenn…" Scarlett started to explain, chuckling slightly.

"I'm serious! And I've been quiet about it ever since the first night you were on watch with him back at camp," he explained. "I mean, he's been a serious help in terms of us tracking down Sophia, but other than that the guy doesn't have much of an appealing personality."

"So you're asking what I see in him?"

"Yeah, I guess so," he clarified, before throwing his hands up in a panic. "I'm not judging you or anything, I'm just-"

"Confused?"

Glenn paused for a moment before nodding. Scarlett scratched at her neck in an attempt of gathering her thoughts and finding the words to say to her friend.

"I'll admit that I hated him when I first met him, but after Atlanta there were moments where he wasn't a total asshole," she explained. "Of course he can be crude, I'm not denying that at all, but he has these moments, Glenn. Moments when he gets rid of that bullshit tough exterior and just talks and jokes with me. And you can't deny that he's doing everything he can to find Sophia. He truly cares about finding her, and that's the side of him that I enjoy having a conversation with."

"So he has a soft side. That's what you like about him?"

"Not just that. I like that he doesn't put up with any bullshit, either."

"So you like him?"

Something about his question bothered her, which caused Scarlett to look down at him with furrowed eyebrows. When she saw his raised eyebrows, accompanied with a small smirk on his face, she widened her eyes in disbelief.

"Jesus Christ, Glenn. What are you, five?"

"Hey! I was just wondering…"

"Just cause you have the hots for the farmer's daughter doesn't mean I have them for Daryl."

Scarlett smirked when she saw his cheeks heat up at the mention of the brown-haired girl.

"I don't like her." He muttered, but failed to meet his friend's eyes. The redhead laughed softly.

"Whatever you say, Glenn."

Before her friend could argue with her anymore, Scarlett picked up her empty plate and left him on the porch. As she entered the kitchen and placed the dirtied plate in the sink, the redhead couldn't help but think over Glenn's words. This was the second time that someone had implied that something was going on between her and Daryl. She frowned; was it so hard to believe that they just got along well? She wasn't even sure if he thought of her as a friend or just an acquaintance. How could anyone possibly believe that there was something more going on?

"Scarlett!"

The call of her name from the bedroom that held the injured boy was urgent, sending her sprinting through the house towards it without any hesitation. When she finally reached the room, she spotted Hershel and Patricia wheeling a medical table into the room. Rick and Lori were hugging one another with worry in their eyes, causing Scarlett to furrow her eyebrows in a panic.

"We're doing it?" She questioned hastily, rolling up the sleeves of her forest green shirt. "But Shane isn't-"

"We're out of time. We need to do the surgery without the supplies." Hershel stated firmly. Scarlett sent Rick and Lori a quick look, taking in their anxious figures and decided not to voice her concerns in order to keep the couple from completely losing their minds at the thought of Carl dying.

"Okay, get the corner of that bed. Let's get the sheets down," Hershel instructed both Scarlett and Patricia, both women rushing over to help the older man with the sheets. "Get the I.V. bag on the sheet."

Scarlett quickly unhooked the bag and placed it down beside Carl on the bed, watching as Hershel pulled the pillow out from the boy's head carefully.

"Okay, on three. One, two, three!"

With some help from Lori and Rick, the five of them managed to cradle Carl in the sheets and over onto the medical table. It was only when Patricia brought out the tray of scalpels and tweezers that Scarlett realized that they were seriously going into surgery. Hershel handed her a pair of medical gloves and she quickly slipped them on while the older man did the same with his own pair. Patricia brought over the lamp from the side table and turned it on, giving them more light to perform what needed to be done. Both Rick and Lori looked as nervous as ever.

"Rick, Lori, you may want to step out." Hershel informed them.

Scarlett turned to the couple and met both their eyes. As she was about to speak up, the sound of a car approaching the house was heard. The four of the adults in the room bolted for the front door when they saw headlights pass through the window. Hershel instructed Patricia to stay and get the Carl ready for surgery.

Throwing open the door and stepping out onto the porch, they all watched as Shane limped over to them with a bag thrown over his shoulder, which Scarlett assumed carried the medical supplies. Shane looked extremely worked up and distraught as he approached them, his breath coming out in harsh wheezes.

"Carl?" He questioned, eyes wide with worry.

"There's still a chance." Rick informed his best friend as he clung to his wife, attempting to stay upright from the lack of blood in his body.

Shane quickly handed Scarlett and Hershel the two bags he had on him, only for the white-haired man to turn to the man in question.

"Otis?"

The look on Shane's face appeared lost and vague, distress slowly engulfing his features. It was obvious to Scarlett that Otis didn't make it even before Shane shook his head.

"No." He muttered with his eyes down casted.

Scarlett frowned deeply. While she never met the man that was responsible for shooting Carl, she could tell by the heartbroken look on Hershel and Maggie's faces that he meant a lot to them. Without thinking much, Scarlett put a hand on Maggie's shoulder, only for her to look at the redhead with tear-filled eyes.

"We say nothing to Patricia," Hershel stated firmly to everyone. "Not till after. I need her."

The white-haired man gave Scarlett a look before making his way into the house, silently informing her to follow him. She let out a shaky breath and began walking towards the house as well, but not before catching both Rick and Lori's eyes. When she gazed at them, they both seemed to widen their eyes in mild surprise and at the time Scarlett didn't know why. It would only be later when the couple informed her why they'd been startled.

Because the look on her face, no matter how tired or worried she was, spoke volumes. It was almost vicious and wild, the way she looked at them. She had said nothing to them, but the look in itself did the talking.

It said that no matter what happened, Scarlett was going to bring their son back to them.

* * *

Her form remained curled up in the chair that sat in the corner of the bedroom Carl rested in. Eyes struggling to stay open, her breaths were coming out in tired puffs. A few strands of red hair had come lose from the hold of her elastic band and were currently tickling the sides of her face. Her back remained pressed against the leather of the chair while her shoulders were hunched over slightly, most of the stress gone from them. The blue medical gloves were still on her hands, painted red with Carl's blood.

In the short period of time that they had, they'd managed to do it. Along with Hershel and Patricia, Scarlett had managed to stabilize Carl and bring him back from near death. It had been so fast, the operation. Before she knew it, both Hershel and her had sliced into Carl and began digging. Scarlett's main task had been to remove the bullets, which she'd managed to do with very little trouble, while Hershel focused on stitching up the organ that had been nicked by one of the bullets. Patricia was a huge help with giving them new tools and holding out a dish for Scarlett to dispose of the bullets, not to mention that she was there whenever Hershel needed a hand.

But now, she could hear the blonde woman sobbing in the kitchen from behind the closed door of the bedroom. From the way Hershel had talked about Otis, Scarlett could only assume that Patricia was married to him and it was obvious that she was taking his loss hard.

"Where is she?"

"In the bedroom with Carl."

Scarlett let her eyelids fall closed when she heard the bedroom door open. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so drained and she knew she'd be out in a matter of minutes with the way her state of fatigue was going. The thought of taking off her bloodied gloves before falling asleep crossed her mind, but she could barely move let alone take them off.

"Scarlett. Hey."

Feeling a hand fall on her head, the redhead opened her heavy eyelids to meet Rick's equally tired ones. The man was crouched in front of her with relief ridden all over his face. Behind him stood Lori, Hershel, Glenn and Maggie.

"Hey." She muttered back to him, seeing the slightly smile that broke across his lips made her feel calmer than before.

"Thank you."

Opening her eyes a little wider in an attempt to focus on the man's words, Scarlett gave him a soft nod of her head as she blinked slowly. The others could probably tell that she wasn't exactly coherent, because nobody said anything else to her. All she felt was a pair of lips press against her head, followed by the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing once more.

And then there was nothing.

* * *

 _Yay, smol bean Carl is okay!_

 _I'm so happy that we've gotten to the Greene farm now. I love Maggie so much, and I look forward to furthering everyone's relationships with the Greene family as well as with each other._

 _I truly hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to let me know with a review, I love hearing from you guys!_

 _Like I said before, I will try my best to update at least a few more times this month. You guys deserve it after the long ass breaks between chapters that I've put you all through._

 _Thank you all for everything xo_

 _Happy Spooky Month!_

 _\- GuiltyCalamity_


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